documentclass[twocolumn]{article}
usepackage{graphicx}
usepackage{tikz}
usepackage{lipsum}

makeatletter
renewcommandsection{@startsection{section}{1}{z@}%
    {-5baselineskip}% this does not get applied after figures
    {baselineskip}%
    {Huge}
}
makeatother

setlength{abovecaptionskip}{0.5baselineskip}
setlength{belowcaptionskip}{0.5baselineskip}
setlength{textfloatsep}{0sp}

providecommandimage[1]{
    begin{figure}[t]%
        begin{tikzpicture}
            draw (0,0) -- (8,0) -- (8,4) -- (0,4) -- (0,0);
        end{tikzpicture}
        caption{textbf{#1}}%
    end{figure}%
}

begin{document}

image{Good. A normal paragraph is nice and close to the caption.}
lipsum[1]

newpage
image{Bad. A title should have space no matter what comes before it.}
section{This title has almost no space before it}

newpage
lipsum[2]
section{This title has much more space before it}
textbf{Good. This is how a title usually adds space when anything is preceding it.}

newpage
section{This title rightly has no space before it}
textbf{Good. There is nothing above the title in this column.}

end{document}