Birdscapes

See my Birdscape category images

What is a Birdscape?

Grey Heron - Conwy RSPB

Redshank at sunset - Connah's Quay Nature Reserve

Most bird photographers, myself included, yearn for those frame-filling, perfectly-exposed, perfectly-sharp, soft-focus-background images. They say very little, if anything, about the bird's environment; they don't need to, as they are about the bird purely. These images can be spectacular and easy to admire.

When I set out to achieve the above type of image only, I often return home empty-handed. These images are not easy to achieve, because they require me to overcome the limitations of my 400mm lens and get close to the subject without being detected. This is the biggest challenge in bird photography and when I do occasionally achieve the desired result, it makes it all the more satisfying and rewarding.

However, although this is my primary target, I will always be on the lookout for a different, and often easier to achieve, type of image. I'm not sure where I first saw the word 'birdscape', but I use it to classify a particular type of image.

For me, a birdscape image is not just about the bird or birds in the image. Perhaps it conveys something about the landscape or says as much about the bird's environment as it does about the bird(s).

Perhaps it conveys something emotional. For example, for me, the image of the Redshank at sunset conveys melancholy and nostalgia. Perhaps this is something only the creator of the image sees and can appreciate.

A birdscape is never a landscape or other image-type that just happens to have a bird in it, although to the viewer this might appear to be so. In my case these images have been taken with birds, not landscapes, in mind.

Whether an image should be categorised as a birdscape is purely subjective and some might disagree on its suitability. Others might wonder what the fuss is about: it's an image, it has birds in it, why try to categorise it further – a valid opinion.

See my Birdscape category images