DAVID OSBORN PHOTOGRAPHY

Some aspects of what you believe about photography are wrong preconceptions. – The classical and most universal one I’ll explain in the second half of this story. We live in a world of “quick tips, tricks and presets” today. Not everything can be explained this way. – Today, we like to avoid reading and thinking. As a website, I should tell you what you want to hear, not what you need to know – but look where this approach has got us in photography today: a bad general standard. – I can’t make you read this text, but if you do, it may change your whole approach to photography and make you a better photographer.

The problem with an iconic location, is that it’s iconic – everyone has a picture! – I was in Italy in 2017 on a workshop, just about to fly home from Pisa with my client, a working photographer. Not having seen Pisa, I came up with the brilliant idea and said, “Why don’t we photograph the tower?” – An idea that crashed to earth quicker than a lead balloon; the reply being, “Everyone has that; I don’t want the same photos as everyone else. So, feeling pretty stupid, I had to agree. – That’s when the “moment of clarity” happened. I think Galileo spoke to me.

I said: The fact that everyone has shot Pisa is precisely WHY we need to shoot it. That’s the whole point of what I’m teaching you. My process enables you to create an entirely unique photo. Now confident again with an equally brilliant rescue of the situation, I said: Look, you want to impress your clients. What better way than showing them your version of Pisa so that they can compare it with the many pictures of Pisa on the internet? They won’t find a similar image in terms of style. Show your clients you can be unique, even in an iconic location! – He agreed.

We judge: “What it can become, not what we see now”. – This is a two-part story. The first outlines my workflow and thought process when taking photos by using Pisa as an example. The second explains that we’re hardwired to “think within a box”. To be creative, we must question “the box” and think outside of it. Question what we’re told and test if it’s true – often it’s not. We very often do things because “that’s the way we’re told to do it”, but this doesn’t mean they’re the only way, or even the best way. – However, let’s get back to photographing Pisa first.

Photography and Photoshop are two sides of the same coin, inseparable when creating beautiful, engaging and different images. What made us different from others is that we visualised what the Leaning Tower of Pisa could become after its transformation in Photoshop, and we did not rely solely on what is literally in front of us. – We never planned on making a literal picture; that’s why being at an iconic location wasn’t a concern. – Previsualizing the photo we want to create, tells us what exposures we need to take. We break the scene down into components.

The primary challenge was finding a different angle, but one that still emphasised the lean of the tower. Second, plan the best time of day to shoot so that the tower would be side-lit to achieve a three-dimensional effect. Third, what do we do about the sky? – Getting the photo in a single exposure was not the aim. Getting the perfect assets for Photoshop was. – By using a tripod, we can shoot multiple exposures over any length of time, and all those frames will align in Photoshop for seamless blending together. – This means commiting to one composition only.

The best possible photograph of the scene is captured as a single exposure. Imagine you only have one sheet of film to create the final photo. Through blending and masking, you combine the benefits of both the technical and artistic exposures with the base image to create the final photograph. – This is why you invest your time in a single composition and a tripod, so that all exposures perfectly align in Photoshop later.

Technical exposures increase the technical quality of the final photograph. The base exposure is an average exposure. The shadow detail that fills in and the highlights that blow out in the base exposure are taken as separate exposures to counteract these defects in the final picture. We also need to consider the camera’s response curve, which significantly affects the tones the camera records and the quality of the tones.

Artistic exposures enhance the content of the final image. We examine the base image and visualise what content we want to include in the photograph to create our perfect image. This includes what type of sky we want to set the mood, but the sky can be taken on a different day and location. We examine every part of the base image and try to capture a better version of each area, such as when the light moves around the scene and illuminates different objects. What people and vehicles do we wish to add or remove, etc? – We capture all the components.

Combining the ‘assets’ together perfectly without any artefacts showing. – This phase is only concerned with transferring data into a single image, and the final picture must look like a single frame taken from the camera. The compositing starts with a quick ‘sketch’ in Photoshop to identify the best content and the overall light and mood I want to create.

The first stage is to edit then to perfectly composite all the assets together as if to make the most perfect single raw file from the camera. This can include joining multiple frames to create a more panoramic image as happened with Pisa (4 frames L-R). Skies are one of the most important elements in a photograph. Skies set the mood and drama, the story. The tone of the sky is also important for creating contrast with the main objects. Italy was all blue sky that doesn’t set the mood and drama I like in images, so a new sky was chosen, darker and moodier. I love the skies found in old master paintings and maritime scenes. Full of drama and clouds that give the great compositional design to the image.

Create the three-dimensional illusion of reality, the 3D form and spatial depth. – I identify and simplify the ‘Geons’ to make these objects instantly readable and create rich and detailed shadows. – My priority is cohesion, order, structure and emphasis, not artistic style. This gives my Photography a foundation of realism, a point of reference to understand it.

The second step is what I call technical Photoshop. It is not about mood, atmosphere and feeling but creating a three-dimensional optical illusion with what I call “super-readability”; super-rich, over-the-top detail and texture in every inch of the image. Later we are going to knock down the image making it tonally much darker, making it cohesive and moody, dramatic. However, when we make an area darker, we lower the local contrast within objects and very quickly areas fill in to become flat, solid tone lacking detail. If we start with over-the-top separation, we counteract this later problem and retain rich shadow separation in the final image, even in the darkest of areas.

At this stage, we also ask three main questions about the image and apply the solutions.

1. Does the image have an overall sense of spatial depth?

2. Do the objects have a sense of three-dimensional form and texture?

3. Does the picture have a sense of light?

Once we have satisfied these technical criteria we should have technically perfect, but a clinical photograph. Soulless.

The artistic transformation away from a literal depiction of reality into my personal interpretation that appeals to our senses. – I use the light to create the mood, drama, and atmosphere. While I make extreme changes, I am always conscious of never contradicting ‘The Laws of Perception’: creating a scenario that’s physically impossible to happen in real life.

The final phase is to make the image work as an overall cohesive and aesthetic image with order. Imagine a choir where everyone is singing their own part, in their own time, at the top of their voices, all at random. No cohesion, no logic, no order. Chaos. We must give them order. We must nominate the lead singer and the backing group – and those we simply don’t want! We make the whole image very dark, in fact, the brightest highlight will be only a 50% grey value. We then paint back in our lead singer as the brightest tone, followed by the backing group. We nominate the importance of the objects (to a degree) by how bright they are; knowing that our eye is drawn to the brightest area of an image first. Those we don’t want to be noticed, we simply keep dark.

With a great deal of subtle painting and blending, we start to give the picture order, structure and logic, creating a feeling of cohesiveness and aesthetic beauty. We also use this stage to enhance the light, mood and drama of the image that gives the image soul, thinking of the image in logical terms of light source and light effect, like a painter. We also set the color mood to hold the image together, giving the image a limited color palette like a Rembrandt painting. Slowly the picture comes alive and the story of light unfolds.

I do not set out to make my photographs look like paintings. I just have a passion for old master paintings and that shows in the treatment of my photographs. Photoshop allows me to make my images as statements of personal artistic expression, not literal renditions of a view. My philosophy is to compose the subject, shoot the light then print the atmosphere. After composition, the subject almost becomes redundant, just a canvas to portray the story of light and mood.

My technique is not for everyone. It is slow and methodical, you only end up with one image, not twenty, but I prefer one beautiful ‘A-grade’ image over 10 ‘B-grade’ images. Photoshop brings back the freedom to create like a painter yet retain the technical sharpness and detail of photography; for the right personality, a very enjoyable and absorbing process. Is Photoshop cheating? I am honest and upfront about its use, it’s a personal decision. I only ask that people judge what they see.

Which version do you choose? – Version “A” or Version “B.” The question is simple, but the answer is revealing. Version “A” complies with the accepted rules of photography – it’s an authentic, unedited depiction of Pisa. – Version “B” is radically altered through cheating in Photoshop, resulting in an artificial and dramatic transformation. Why, then, does the overwhelming majority choose the manipulated image? This choice contradicts the very rules you are taught, which state that photographic purity should be the guiding principle. – Are the guidelines wrong?

People use intuitive human nature to judge photography, not their knowledge of photography. Version “A” is technically “good photography”, but fails the needs of our psychology. Version “B,” conversely, succeeds because our brains are hardwired to desire and engage with what we haven’t seen before, regardless of how it was created. The official policy about not altering photography is fundamentally wrong. – It’s proven by popular vote and the psychological principles behind human nature. – This conflict is explained by the psychology concept of the “Frame”.

Note: The only exception to this discussion is news and documentary photography, where capturing reality is the primary purpose.

A “Frame” is the mental context we require to make any judgment or decision. – For example, if you are given a length of string and asked if it’s “long,” you cannot easily answer because you lack a reference point. If I then place a longer piece of rope next to the string, the answer is easy because the rope provides a comparison; a context to answer the question. That rope is the “frame”, it allows you to judge the string as “short”. – Everything we do is within the broader context of something else; our beliefs, behaviour, etc – It’s never in isolation on its own.

Photography has a “frame” – it’s built from all our prior knowledge and experience of photography, based on what we’ve seen and heard; our exposure to photography. This context defines our understanding, dictates how we take pictures, and – establishes the rules of photography. Therefore, it’s critical that this “frame” is correct, because it’s the foundation of all our guidelines and judgments. – But, what if it were wrong? It would radically change our whole perception of photography! – When we examine the source of the “frame”, we find a serious problem.

Who, then, creates this critical photography “frame”? For most people, their frame is primarily built from social media, YouTube tutorials, and online magazines. These platforms are the Gatekeepers, but they are generally driven by the need to attract viewers and generate revenue, not by any profound understanding of photography. They may not even know what “makes good photography”, but few will question them. We don’t question the Gatekeepers, the “frame”. They are the benchmark for truth, and they subconsciously dictate our actions and beliefs.

A more fundamental “frame” takes priority over all man-made models: our brain’s basic operating system, human nature. This intuitive “frame” is based on how our brains are hardwired to perceive and understand visual images, allowing us to make sense of the world, including photos. Because fundamental human nature is natural and universal, it takes priority over any man-made “rules” about photography. – This is precisely WHY people choose Version “B”: it aligns with our basic human nature, and Version “A” doesn’t. – The rules that you’re told are wrong.

The ordinary person doesn’t know or care about any technical rules you may be using. They only know and care about what appeals to them and what they find interesting. – The photography “frame” you use has been corrupted by social media influencers, which negatively impacts your ability to create proper, good-quality photography rooted in human psychology. It makes no sense to create a photo that complies with rules stating photographic purity is the foundation of “good photography” – if the photo you create is boring to the majority of people.

In simple terms, photographers have created self-imposed rules that produce photos people don’t want, because it contradicts human nature to want them. Nobody questions the “rules”; they just follow the “rules”. – The “rules” are created by unqualified people who don’t understand human nature. They ignore the most critical quality of a picture: people must find it interesting and engaging, regardless of how it’s made. The expression “think outside the box” literally means to think outside the established “frame”. – Question WHY you follow what you’re told.