Good Photography is visually stimulating. – The journey starts with what we show. A picture’s visual qualities have two functions: a practical function and a stimulation function. – Practical functions give the picture cohesive readability and efficiency by using visual order, structure, and emphasis. – They direct the viewer to the main subject of the image, the ‘hero,’ by giving our ‘hero’ visual emphasis. The stimulation function means ‘What we see visually, we respond to emotionally’. We push viewers’ emotional buttons by what we show them. – Light, mood, drama and atmosphere in the picture stimulate an emotional response in the viewer.

Good Photography is in the sweet spot between two extremes. Literal pictures don’t benefit the viewer because they show viewers what they expect to see. Not showing anything new, they don’t ignite curiosity. Pictures viewers don’t understand, don’t benefit viewers because they can’t engage with them. Engaging pictures use light, three-dimensional form, and a feel of spatial distance to give the picture a foundation of realism; this gives a point of reference to understand the picture. The artistic interpretation makes the picture different, which then stimulates the viewer’s mind and arouses their curiosity, thoughts, and feelings.

We wouldn’t design an aeroplane without considering gravity, and we wouldn’t create a boat without thinking it must float – but, we take photographs without considering human nature. Yet, human nature, or to be specific, our brain, dictates how people perceive and respond to pictures. Digital cameras make it very easy to ignore human nature. In effect, by not knowing how human nature works, people are unwittingly making photographs that don’t work.

The ‘Red Signal’ is the usual approach to Photography – bypassing human perception and art. The ‘Green Signal’ starts with people’s human nature. Art is a human pursuit. Therefore, artistic knowledge is the next subject in our ‘Signal.’ – Within art, our speciality is Photography, which makes the picture. – These pictures appeal to a viewer’s human nature because they consider human perception and artistic principles when they’re made. – We create engaging pictures.

If we do not factor in human perception and artistic principles when we create photographs, we’re expecting the viewer’s human nature to compensate for our confused pictures and lack of knowledge. – That’s unrealistic; it won’t happen. Human nature won’t adapt to our pictures; we must adapt our pictures to comply with human nature. – Improvement begins by learning the basics of human nature first. – We can’t ignore human nature and create good pictures.

What happens if the brain receives a visual input? – The ‘Neocortex’ gathers and processes the information and passes it to the ‘Mammalian’ brain for understanding. – The ‘Mammalian’ brain creates a three-dimensional model and breaks that model down into geometric shapes called ‘Geons’. It then searches its hard drive ‘database’ for each shape to find a match and associate a meaning to the shape, to understand what it represents, sending the result back to us as an intuitive response or a ‘feeling’. – This could also trigger a personal memory or belief. We have no control over the processing; we only have control over the input data: the information we supply to be processed, our pictures, and they’re processed the same way everything else is.

The brain applies two processes simultaneously, a ‘Feedback Loop,’ to efficiently process the ‘Geons,’ the geometric shapes of the three-dimensional model – ‘Bottom-Up’ and ‘Top-Down’ processing. Bottom-Up is factual data about the shape. Top-Down is stored information in our subconscious database, our prior knowledge, memories, beliefs, etc. Bottom-Up first produces the shape in its most minimalist form. – Top-Down searches our ‘database’ to find a match for the shape to give it meaning. If a meaning is found, the process stops. – If meaning isn’t found, Bottom-Up processing will generate a higher level of complexity and detail, and the process is constantly repeated until Top-Down finds a meaning. The details our brain hasn’t analyzed are then filled in with a ‘Prediction’ based on prior knowledge and could be an interpretation. We only analyze enough detail to understand the object; no more. – This conserves resources.

The fundamental principle of our brain is to conserve resources through efficiency. – Thinking uses the highest amount of effort and energy, the brain’s resources. Therefore, the brain hates ‘Thinking’. – The brain always prefers a fast intuitive decision, not an extended investigation; in Neuroscience, it’s called being a ‘Cognitive Miser’. – In picture terms, our brain likes simple and obvious pictures. Generic or literal pictures ‘that we have seen before’ will move smoothly and efficiently through the ‘Neocortex’ to the subconscious ‘Mammalian’ brain and are understood without requiring much ‘thinking about’. – This conserves the brain’s resources and leaves the conscious resource-intensive ‘Neocortex’ free to think about and solve other problems.

Geons (geometric ions). Irving Biederman (1939 – 2022) was a Neuroscientist and Professor of Psychology at the State University of New York. – Biederman’s Recognition-by-Components: A Theory of Human Image Understanding, 1987, proposed that simple forms such as cylinders, bricks, wedges, cones, circles and rectangles, called Geons, serve as building blocks for object recognition in the brain. For example, the ice cream cone could be broken down into a sphere shape above a cone shape. An enormous number of objects can simplified down using a few Geons: – 24 Geons can be recombined to create over 10 million different two-Geon objects.

The concept of ‘Geons’ – breaking something down to its simplest structure and adding layers of complexity isn’t new; it’s only relatively new to Psychology, but it makes common sense. It’s a basic concept used in art and design every day for hundreds of years. We just never hear the word used and certainly don’t think about it in Photography; we just ‘click the shutter’. – Apart from composition, it can’t really be applied, but in post-production, it certainly can. Not doing so is probably the photographer’s most significant weakness that lets pictures down. Cameras provide very inefficient pictures from the brain’s perspective. – Enhancing the ‘Geons’ in post-production will greatly increase the readability and efficiency of all our photographs.

Let’s summarize the dilemma from the photographer’s standpoint. – On one side, the viewer’s brain wants visually efficient pictures that don’t require thinking. – But if we don’t think about anything, we don’t feel stimulated, so the picture gives no benefit and has no purpose for the viewer. – On the other hand, cameras are unforgiving: they blindly record anything in front of them, but what they record isn’t necessarily ideal for our brain to process. Artistic knowledge bridges this gap between pictures and people. Where we translate the signals to be effective for human consumption. – It’s like cooking: ‘We buy raw chicken but don’t eat raw chicken’!

Think of post-production, the artistic stage, as going out for a meal. A restaurant doesn’t serve you the raw ingredients on a plate. The chef cooks the ingredients to create an enjoyable and tasty meal. What the chef does with the ingredients dictates the meal’s success or failure, but the ingredients don’t change. – Similarly, if you speak to me in Russian I won’t understand you. However, if you speak to me through a Russian interpreter who then translates what you say into English, I will understand you. Post-production is our ‘translator’. Artistic knowledge tells us how to correctly translate raw files into fast, effective and efficient pictures for people.

To make matters worse, our brain is trying to make a 3D model of the world, but pictures are two-dimensional. An inefficient discrepancy that needs time to resolve. – On top of this, your camera records unrealistic tones; cameras darken the grey midpoint by two and a half stops. The lighter tones gain 45% more contrast, while the darks lose 55% contrast, rising to 80% in the darkest tones. The camera compresses global contrast, which makes the depiction of 3D form and spatial distance even more unrealistic. – The more the signal deviates away from a perception of reality, the more the brain has to invest resources in resolving the discrepancy.

Photographs mean detail, and analyzing detail is resource-intensive and, therefore, inefficient. However, exploring detail also means discovering new content unseen at first glance; this can be mentally stimulating, captivating, and rewarding in its own right. – Detail isn’t a negative by default. What is negative by default is if a picture lacks an overall, simple, and cohesive design. The design makes an efficient initial scan because it’s the primary quality to be processed first; detail is always secondary. Therefore, Cohesion, including composition, balance and design, is the primary artistic principle that governs all pictures. – Emphasis has been covered already.

Light – The primary quality of all pictures responsible for everything from creating 3D form to spatial distance. – The light, mood, drama and atmosphere in pictures appeal to the senses, a powerful way to make pictures appeal to people. Pictures are in principle, stories about ‘Light’.

Form & Distance – These give the picture a point of reference and a sense of realism, which help the viewer understand what they’re looking at. We try to recreate the signals of a three-dimensional world our brain will ‘believe’. A ‘fake’ signal to fool the brain, an ‘Optical Illusion’.

Contrast – This is not limited to tonal contrast. Contrast means contrasting one quality against its opposite, such as warm against cold, detail areas against flat tone, or big against small. This adds ‘Visual Energy,’ interest, power and emphasis. The primary means to ‘Focus The Eye’.

Variation – Areas that are flat and don’t change are visually boring because they don’t trigger any visual stimulation; think of a flat blue sky. Every area of the picture must contribute to the overall interest of the picture, even if it’s only small and subtle tonal variations that ‘change’.

Symbolism – Relies on your prior knowledge of what a symbol represents to give the picture a meaning. Without this prior knowledge, the picture won’t work. – A cross represents Christian religion. The Eiffel Tower represents France. – The content is specifically chosen to be a trigger.

Connection – We assign meanings to objects, and when we see objects together, we have to work out what the connection is between them. If a picture shows a ripped-apart chair and a dog sleeping, we assume the dog ripped the chair. If we only show the dog, there’s no story.

Ambiguity – This is similar to ‘Connection,’ except we imply something, not show everything. If the picture showed the ripped-apart chair, but instead of showing a dog, there is an open door behind it, we would ask, ‘What was it that came into the room and ripped the chair?’

Different – This contains a paradox. – We’re attracted to different because – ‘it’s not what we expect to see’. It offers the potential for greater benefits. However, ‘different’ also comes with greater risk. – We’re drawn to the benefits of different, but feel safer with ‘what we know’.

Time – An expression caught in the ‘act of thought,’ or an event frozen in time, gives pictures life and energy. The fascination to be able to study in detail what’s too fleeting in real life. But, it’s also worth considering the quality of ‘timeless,’ the feeling of something never changing.

Memory – The above are universal properties; memory is personal because only you have this specific ‘prior knowledge.’ – A picture of where you grew up has meaning for you, but nobody else. Fine for personal pictures, not for wider audiences. – Viewers only have ‘what they see’.

I use a Nikon D850 with 35, 50, or 85 mm Sigma Art DG HSM lenses. A Gitzo GT3543LS carbon fibre tripod. I often shoot panoramic pictures with a NovoFlex multi-row panorama head and MagicBalance. I only use the latest version of Adobe Photoshop and Nikon NX Studio for raw conversion. Panoramic photos are stitched using PTGui software and always in a 2:3 ratio.

Today, photographs aren’t the product of the camera but software. The camera only records the ‘assets’ for Photoshop, where I create the photograph. – The more assets I take, the more creative choices I have to make my picture. Photography is ‘data collection’. – The assets are:

The Base Exposure – My mindset is to shoot the complete photograph in a single exposure and then take additional corrective exposures to improve the photograph. I ask myself one question: If I were a painter, What would I paint to make this my ideal picture? I then try to shoot the additional ‘assets’ I previsualize. – The additional ‘assets’ are in three categories:

Technical Exposures – Improve the technical and tonal quality of my photograph. – These are primarily bracketed images to control global contrast and create rich shadow detail. Freezing moving objects, removing unwanted objects, and exposures that provide a better separation between objects. – I shoot at f11 and never use any filters except a 10-stop ND very rarely.

Artistic Exposures – These are artistic improvements to the content of the picture. – People, animals and vehicles that give the picture life. When the sunlight falls on various parts of the landscape at different times, but isn’t captured in the main base image. I will only shoot one composition, but I won’t limit myself regarding artistic ‘assets’. Volume gives me options.

Sky & Cloud Exposures – Very rarely is the sky my ideal choice when photographing. – Most often, it doesn’t have the correct mood for the picture that I imagine. The sky and clouds are the picture’s ‘silent heroes,’ but their importance is vastly overlooked. Sky and clouds dictate the mood and drama. I will replace the sky if needed; the sky can be taken from anywhere.

You spend 1 hour at a location and take 60 different angles. When you edit your pictures later, you delete 59 of them. Your final picture has an investment of 1 minute, and you have wasted 59 minutes. – I invest my 1 hour into a single composition and shoot 6o variations. – Who gets the better picture? – I do. I have 60 variations I can blend together to create 1 beautiful image. You can’t. – Move the questions you ask during editing to being the questions you ask before shooting. Let the picture come to you. Don’t chase the picture. – You get better pictures.

Look at creating a photograph as being the director of a theatrical play. – Your job is to create order out of chaos: create a cohesive, polished, engaging performance. Imagine a castle in the mountains. – The castle is the lead actor, your ‘Hero’. The secondary buildings and animals are the supporting cast. The surrounding mountains are the theatre backdrop; the sky and clouds are the theatre lighting, which sets the mood and atmosphere. – Everything in the pictures is directed at making the hero stand out and look fantastic; if not, he’s going to freak out.

Think of the color and tone of a picture, like constructing a building. – The main construction is done with tonal values and relationships. Color is essentially the cosmetic exterior paint when finished, but it plays little role in the structure, only the mood. Blacks give the picture strength, structure and a solid foundation. The mid-grays give the building three-dimensional form and distance and set the overall mood. The lights give it life and sparkle. – Think of a second-hand car. – There’s no point in looking pretty on the outside, if it’s an ‘old banger’ on the inside.

You exhibit at a gallery with other photographers. But, this gallery has a weird entry regulation for visitors: ‘If visitors look at a picture for 20 seconds, they must buy it’. As photographers, our first job is to grab the visitor’s attention. – The next is captivate their attention for 20 seconds, and we earn money. – The worldwide average time that people look at a painting in a national gallery is 17 seconds. If we don’t ‘Stop, Captivate and Reward’ fast, they’re gone. If people had this type of incentive, it’s amazing how good pictures would be.

The nucleus of expressive photography is the photographer’s ability to push viewers’ emotional buttons. Good photographs express an idea, evoke emotion, and reward the viewer.  However, viewers only have the “product;” they aren’t interested in the “process;” your benefits, enjoyment, and memories are irrelevant. Their benefits are solely from the picture they see. If we prioritize the “viewer,” we create exceptional pictures for others and outstanding images for ourselves. Weak pictures only appeal to the photographer; good pictures appeal to everyone.

Our brain is only around 3% of our body weight but uses 20% of our calories. Surprisingly, images provide meaningful information in less than 40 milliseconds, five times faster than the blink of an eye. Our brains process visual content a staggering 60,000 times faster than text. People remember 80% of what they see, compared to only 20% of what they read or 10% of what they hear. Perception is a mental image of what the eyes see and is an interpretation of what we see.