Sarolta Ban

Sarolta Ban

Sarolta is a very famous for his surreal photography and has done a few pieces where he has involved stair cases. His images all allow you to try and develop the meaning behind them, and are all very strong in a sense of dramatic lighting and dark peculiar elements like crows. His images are very gloomy and dimming and show specific points of light where it suggests that the top of the stairs is a better place, or a break in the clouds highlights the stairs against the rest of the darkened image. He also goes for a different method by having a stream of lights going up the stairs to highlight each one which just makes the image more aesthetically pleasing as they look warm and welcoming against the darker stairs. From looking into his work it made me think of ideas that i could try using photo shop to make them realistically and effectively surreal. I have discussed these under the photo that gave me that particular idea.

Image One - Light Up The Stairway...

Below are the images i have chosen to experiment to. This is because i feel they are strong images that i can replicate in my own way, and that the others where difficult for me to try and experiment too. For example for the image where the staircase is sitting on the bench, i don't have access to a staircase even similar to that that i can photograph. For this image i had an idea of having candle lights instead on different types of stairways that would lead your eyes up to see a ghostly figure at the top of someone who wouldn't be as noticeable at first. This would be extremely effective as it would be shocking to the audience as they wouldn't be expecting it and the candle lit stairway would look more ghostly especially as i plan to add like cob webs and dirt etc to make them look the part. After Googling my idea i found the image on the right and discovered that i would need a mysterious setting to pull of this image, which may be hard to find.

For this image the first place your eyes are drawn to is the center of the image as that is the mid point that everyone looks for mainly when they look at an image where their attention isn't already immediately stolen from to another area of the image instead. Your eyes then realize that the lights travel down and up from the inter section you are looking at, but your eyes go up first to follow the light bulbs all the way up into the distance. once you see the distance and all the mysterious foggy exit of the stair-cased tunnel, your eyes just fall back down to see what the bottom of the image looks like. The light bulbs and narrow staircase tunnel trap your eyes to only seeing up to the particular place the photographer wants them to be. These are the leading lines of the image, but do it extremely bluntly you just follow them and don't subconsciously follow them like in many other images where they are more subtle. Your eye may lead back up the stairs again once it has reached the bottom to get a full effect of the motion of the light bulbs and stairs going all the way up to the top. You expect there to be something that you will reach or see when you get to the top, but there is nothing, making the viewer question what is beyond the exit.

The calm shade of the light bulbs adds tranquility to the dark, metal 'serious' in someways tunnel which makes it more of a desirable place to walk through. However, they do light up the staircase in a bright odd way as the light bulb isn't attached to a light socket and therefore cant possibly be lit. This builds a bit of tension as to what they are lighting up the stairs for and again what is leading too. As the stairs and walls are of a metal texture, they illuminate the light bulbs even more, but yet to the shade of the light coming out, it still looks quiet relaxing despite it being peculiar. This image makes you imagine what it must be like in that tunnel such as the atmosphere the temperature and the exit of the tunnel. For example as the lights brighten up the stairs and add a more warming element, the stairs being in almost a metal box concealed space makes you imagine that it is chilled and cold. It reflects on how unnatural the hole image as the light bulbs and metal features to the image are all man made and aren't natural. The sunlight could provide light or windows even, and the stair case could be made of wood or just general caving's into the ground that are more natural wich would have created a complete opposite effect, but would show the contrast of the image well.

In this image, the viewer gets to imagine the image from two different perspectives. One being actually in the tunnel where the staircase is and absorbing the image, rather than being in the photo, and the second being looking from the exit at the top of the stairs down. Your imagination is left to grasp what is outside the tunnel, as nothing is given away to give you a third perspective in the image. This image has a shallow depth of field as the front set of steps is in the greatest focus and you can see all the marks and cracks in the step, and gets a little lesser in focus further down the steps. This increases the need to get to see what is at the end of the tunnel, as it gets unclearer and more mysterious. However the image isn't that unclear and stays fairly focused on the way, with the exception of the very top of the stair case. As the staircase would be very dark without the light bulbs, it emphasizes the more positive space being the light that was put with in the negative space which was the original darkness of the tunnel. This leaves you with mixed feelings of tranquility and weirdness as it shouldn't be lit the way it is. As the image is immediately in the center and there is no further background to deter your attention this image does follow the rule of thirds. However as the image wants you to guess what is outside the top of the tunnel, as well as absorb the lights inside, the rule of thirds is better suited to the image than anything else.

The way each light bulb is positioned is directly in the center of each step but either from the left side in the middle or the right side into the middle. This makes the image more urban, more motion like, more inconclusive and less predictable or authoritative as it doesn't follow a set pattern being in exactly the same place with every step. This makes it more appealing as when your eyes follow it the move in and out, and it exaggerates the level and height of each step, as well as the length of them as a hole in order to get to the top. From the first step it is in such focus and you can imagine the texture of the step, the temperature- is it cold because its metal? is it warm around where the light bulb has heated it? , the feel of it - what do the cracks and the smooth metal feel like against each other? what do the scuffs feel like and are the smooth just different coloured on the step?

Images i have taken

Here i am displaying all the separate images i have taken, before i put them all together in Photoshop. When taking these pictures i decided to take a few to make the image more original with my own twist on it. To do this i added a model with a candelabra to go up a spiral staircase which is dressed in lit tea lights. However this photoshoot didnt not go well as it was windy and the tea lights kept being blown out. This made it almost impossiable for me to shoot as every time i lit one and went up onto the next step to light the next, it had stopped. Despite this, some of the shots i did manage to take where there is a number lit, but my aim was to have the hole bottom section of the tealight trail on the stair case lit. I think i understimated the fact that the candles wouldnt always come out perfect when i took the images, because as you can see in a lot of the images they simply appear to be just glowing ball figures on each step. Even when i tried to re shoot it was still highly unsucsesfull and these where the best images out of the hole shoot. I tried to restrain from using the flash as it didnt really bring much effect and atmosphere to the image but on some of the images i did try. I feel the ones where she is walking up the stairs with the candleabra came out a lot better and made the image look a lot more dynamic and kind of told a fairytale storry as it looks similar to a castle with the vines that are growing up the wall, especially is there is no ground and it looks like she is in the sky.

Finished Response

Here i will display all my final pieces of my experimentation and each one photo shopped to the best i could make it. On these i decided it would be best to make the images black and white and only have the glare of the candels in there true light. I felt this made the image more effective and stand out more so the audicne as it shows that the candles are shwing you the way to something. As the images never show you what its something that would potentially leave tension for the viewer to see as they want to know what they lead too. For the images with the model in, i feel that with them being black and white, it sets the mood more and makes the image a little more sinister as to what the stairs await her at the top. The very last image looks even more impressive as the smoke from the candels as they where being blown out, makes you imagine strong winds, following a sign of danger. However in normal light these images wouldnt carry the same tension and build up. In relation to the image i am responding too, i felt that as they where candles and weretn vedry focused like the image by Sorolta, it wouldnt have been created to the same proffesional standard. As both Sorolta and the image i have found of Google used there type of lighting inside they where at an advantage that i never thought of as i wanted to add emphise to the direction in which the candles would fall in. To improve these i would maybe crop out the backgroundso that the cars in the second image for example dont ruin the mood and effectiveness of the black and white filter agaisnt the tealights.

Development Of Response

Here i will show how i have developed my response images. For the first pair of images, i feel it looks obviously manipulated as the sky isnt as subtle as it could be. However, I felt it looked more like a 'Sorolta' image as he uses dark and gloomier skys that really add emphisis to the audiences feelings on the image. I feel that to improve this image, i would use an even darker sky with less clouds to make it look more realistic. I would also add a darker filter as it doesnt fit the natural lighting of the image which is a blue colour as it was taken in the hours between daylight and night. On the other side i feel the idea of using the sky makes the image a lot more iteresting to see rather than an empty sky. For the second image i made these changes and felt the image looked a lot more realistc and also added more emphisis to the candle light that was coming as it was the only pure light in the image that didnt look as if it had been manipulated. For the second pair, i decided i would manipulate backgrounds to see which looked better. Firstly i thought i would see what the staircase looked like on a plain mocca browny coloured background, which deffinely allows the colours of the flames to standout, however it looks very boirung and un interesting. It doesnt allow you to imagine the scenery and explore the textures from its surrounings. Doing this actually allowed me to understand that like Laurent Chehere i shouldgo through coloured backgrounds, i see which suit it more and will add more of a dramatic eye catching effect rather than just a dull one. So, i created the second one which is an image i took of waste land on the back of an old factory site. This makes it look as if you are walking up a stair case that out looks a wide spread and ineteresting landscape view. I changed the brightness and contrast of both the layer of the stairway and the layer of the landscape so they where darker. This made the stairs more shilouteed, making the background and candle light more extravagant and brighter. The inclusion of a more detailed background makes you wonder more as to where the stairway is leading to as you cant see any clues from the background as it is deserted. For the final image, i sharpened the surrounding areas and removed the black and white filter so that it had a little more natural colouring to it. This has made it look just as good because the candle light is still luminous, due to the darker filter that i added so that it set more of a gloomy mood. This gives the impression that the stairs are out of bounds almost and that they are not in use, but the candle lught makes you want to go and see what they lead too.

To improve these hole images even further, i would consider reshooting, and making them go in an archway inside or in a more sheltered area so that the candle light was in much more focus and the photographs come out a lot better quality. I could also add models more on the steps to to make it my own even more either looking up at the steps like sorolta does or them even standing on the images. I feel this would definetly make my response to Sorolta Ban near preoffesional and a lot more sucsesfull.

Image Two - Stairway In The Distance...

For this image i had the idea of firstly copying the image by taking a variety of different landscape background shots and then adding darker and gloomier skies to them. I would then replicate this by putting a similar staircase whether it be a spiral one where it leads to the top of the screen, adding my own shadow to the ground on Photoshop or even a staircase similar to the one in the image. The only issue with getting a staircase like this is that i have no access to one like this where i can take it from that angle and get that surface on the face of it, as the ones i have access too are all against a wall and not open like this. I could then go onto developing it by having more than one person in the image. For example i had the idea of finding a setting, adding people to it by making at least four or five run and then on Photoshop trying to realistically add a staircase like the one below as if they are all running to climb up and reach a better place or a particular thing.

The first thing your eye is drawn to in this image is the massive set of stairs in the center of the screen going up towards the right hand side, following the rule of thirds successfully as its appeared to be the key part the photographer wants you to see. As its dead center of the image you start from the bottom and work your eyes up, where once you reach it, you notice that the sky is so dark and dim. However just over the staircase shows a break in the clouds, making the clouds look almost holy, where all the happiness is. This makes you think what is at the bottom? so your eyes then travel back down the stairs to see what is awaiting the stairs. As you reach the bottom you notice the cracked textured floor that looks dangerous to stand on, as if it could fall through any minute and stop you reaching the stairs. You then follow these leading lines with in the cracks to see a man standing and staring at the staircase as if he is debating whether or not he should go or stay. Your eye then does a recap of the image looking at it as a hole, and you notice the birds in the sky which resemble darkness and sometimes even death or destruction. This could show that where the man currently is isn't very nice and he should go up to the stairs for a better life. It almost makes you feel sorry for him and sadness as you see he is all alone in a place that appears horrible and potentially dangerous, but there is a way out, turning your emotions on its head, and feeling more relief and happiness for the man.

The confusing thing about this image is the mans body language. He is stood with his hands behind his back making it appear that he is happy to stay where he is and he is just observing something. It could be that he is looking at what he has created and the path to get out is there but he wont take it, and he is happy where he is. This could confuse the audience a lot as to what he is actually going to do, which then involves the viewer more in the image. You try to gather his perspective in the image of what he is looking at and how he feels looking at it, but you just cannot discover how he is feeling as he seems content to stay in a miserable place. This image has deep depth of field as the staircase in the further back center of the photo is in a loot more focus than the man, despite him still being rather clear to see, he doesn't absorb all the focus. This could potentially allow you to not see him until you look at the image again which leaves more mystery in the image as when you do spot him you wonder more as to why he is there.

You can imagine the texture of the clouds, as they are such different shades and shapes you can imagine how they feel as well as how they would be in terms of bringing darkness over you and shadowing you from light. You can also imagine the texture of the floor as it has giant cracks all over like it could fall through. You can imagine what it would feel like to walk on or to touch, and if you would have to be careful to step on them or not. The stairs look rather rustic so you can also imagine them too in terms of their temperature, there surface and any indentations or crevices. The light and the sky looks smooth and silky despite the colours of the clouds being darker, which contrasts with the floor as it shows the complete opposite texture and appearance. This then gives off a larger emotional impact and strengthens your confusion as to why the man is still standing tehre and not going to what seems to be a better place.