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Polarisation of Light Under construction Constantine Bay, Cornwall. No filter. Horizontally polarised light only. Vertically polarised light only. POLARISER: Here light from a flash has been bounced from an air-water boundary to illuminate the buildings beyond. In this case the light striking the surface being split into two components of opposite polarisation, the horizontally polarised component being reflected and the vertically polarised component entering the water. A polarising filter fitted to the camera can be rotated to enhance either the surface reflections or the view beneath the water. R92K08-37 When assessing underwater conditions from above, Polaroid (or polarised, or anti-glare) sunglasses can be used to suppress reflections from the surface.  When browsing through sunglasses in a store, pick up two pairs of alleged polarisers and look through two lenses at once, with the plane of one rotated at 90° to the other. If the combination goes dark, both pairs are genuine.