Polarizing Gels

Has anybody has any experience using polarizing gels to cut down on bounce? I know that for non-metallic surfaces, the specularly reflected light gets polarized; does polarizing it beforehand stop the specular reflection (bounce).
I have a set with a very light floor treatment, and before I get the surprisingly expensive polarizing gel, I'd like to know if it will do what I want.

I've never used them, nor seen them used. I strongly suspect they will have absolutely no effect on your situation. It seems the primary application is for video or photography.
from https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/45130-REG/Rosco_101073001720_Polarizing_7300_Filter.html "

This sheet is especially effective when used in conjunction with a polarizing filter at the lens (cross polarization). It should be placed at a slight distance from hot lights.

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If only we had a photography expert to comment.
Remember "angle of incidence = angle of reflection", and adjust accordingly.

Chris Brooks said:

I know that for non-metallic surfaces, the specularly reflected light gets polarized; does polarizing it beforehand stop the specular reflection (bounce).

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Nope. If that worked, we'd all be doing it! Because specular reflection refracts in many directions, it basically negates polarized light (and besides, polarizing a beam of light from the source is nigh impossible to do effectively outside of a vacuum anyway)

I used to love using polarized and Circular-Polarized filters in my photography... You know that thing I used to do and never find time for anymore.
My money goes into lighting and audio gear these days, not photography.

Anyways polarizing the light will not really help you out here.

The problem is the light bouncing off of the surface, not the source of the light itself. It depends on the properties of the SURFACE most, the quality of the source far less (direction and angle certainly matter).

So in order to help you out, what exactly will the floor treatment be? Will it be glazed (if so what kind)?

Dionysus said:

The problem is the light bouncing off of the surface, not the source of the light itself. It depends on the properties of the SURFACE most, the quality of the source far less (direction and angle certainly matter).

So in order to help you out, what exactly will the floor treatment be? Will it be glazed (if so what kind)?

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The floor treatment will be the color of raw muslin with black grid lines and not glazed. My thought process was that the strongest contributer to bounce from the lights that will inevitably have to be hung with lower angles would be specular (and so polarized just like a glare) with diffuse contributing a bit. If the light that would be making the specular bounce were polarized counter to that, would the polarizing effect of that specular reflection act like a perpendicular polarizing filter?

Where are you getting this idea that a specular reflection polarize's in any way, shape, or form?

dvsDave said:

Where are you getting this idea that a specular reflection polarize's in any way, shape, or form?

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Physics class; non-metallic surfaces polarize light parallel to the surface when reflecting specularly. In practice, photography uses that property to cut down on glare.

Chris Brooks said:

In practice, photography uses that property to cut down on glare.

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Atmospheric Glare is caused by partial Polarization by Scattering, and it partially negated by a polarizing filter.

Chris Brooks said:

Non-metallic surfaces polarize light parallel to the surface when reflecting specularly.

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This only works in polarized 3d movies and that only works because the projector's linear polarizer is PERFECTLY parallel to the projection surface. Also, non-metallic *smooth* surfaces, like glass have observable polarization, but with too much texture the effect will be lost in scatter.

We used to use polarizing filters on lights and camera for reducing unwanted reflections when doing product shots for commercials. Both were rotatable, and both were adjusted for the desired effect while viewing through the lens. No combination or rotation would remove ALL unwanted glare; it was always a "work for the least objectionable result" situation. Polarizers on the lights only simply reduce the intensity by about 2/3 to 1 f stop--did nothing to reflections visible top the eye.

I ended up being able to try it in one system, and the polarizer cut out almost all of the specular bounce, but the diffuse remained (as expected). If it had been a dance show or something else where the specular bounce provided the brunt of the issue, it would have been more noticeable.