Photographing Stairs And Steps With Pentax Cameras

Stairs and steps are an object that most of us will see in our everyday lives, and they can make great photos if you stop and think about it. The shapes and styles of stairs are very varied, and they can give you some great opportunities for abstract shots. By changing you angle and keeping your eyes open, you'll soon realise that steps and stairs provide ample opportunity for shots. 

A wide angle like the Pentax 12-24mm f/4 lens will exaggerate the twists and turns of a spiral staircase while a telephoto lens like the DA 55-300mm lens is good for bringing staircases on the outside of buildings to you. Pack a polariser for stairs against glass or reflective surfaces and a tripod would be handy to help you make sure that the stairs perfectly straight.

Stairs can be used to guide the eye - they can lead your viewer into and through the image. Use them to guide the eye to a certain feature or key point. lines like bannisters are great for this. 

Stand at the top or bottom of a spiral staircase with your wide angle lens and you can get a great but rather overdone shot of the spiral shape twisting up. Try getting someone to stand or lay at the bottom or carefully peek over the banister at the top and use the spiralling stairs as a frame.

For something different try to shoot through the spindles to the other side of the staircase or if you're outdoors, use them to frame a single building or a shot of showing part of the city. Try altering your angle, shooting lower down to emphasis the height and / or number of steps in front of you. Many cameras now have vari-angle LCD screens which allow you to frame your subjects from multiple angles with ease. Which means you won't have to get down on your knees or crouch when capturing low-angled shots. Use light and shadows to add depth, shapes and another level of interest to your shots and experiment with colour, too as turning an image black & white can really make the viewer focus on the shapes and textures of an image when colour's stripped away. 

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