Richard "Rich" Ditch

I have a very good friend by the name of Richard "Rich" Ditch. Not only is Rich a fine avian photographer and a walking compendium of bird lore, Rich is a very smart person. Rich and I share a common interest in photographing natural birds in natural light and in natural habitat. All too often, in many Internet based nature and bird photography forums, you see images made of birds that have been baited, called, or otherwise enticed from their natural surroundings and activities, to perch on artificial perches in perfect light with perfect backgrounds, and the images will be passed off as "nature" images. Rich, being the very smart man that he is, coined a term for the unnatural nature images, a term with which I wholeheartedly agree. Rich calls these images, "engineered" bird images.

What is an "engineered" bird image? It is any bird image in which the bird was enticed from its normal routine to be photographed in and around unnatural settings. It is not uncommon for a photographer to set up a bird feeder and place several artificial perches around the bird feeder to take advantage of nice backgrounds and perfect lighting. Birds often use these perches to check out the feeder before actually flying to the feeder to feed. The photographer happily snaps images of the birds on the artificial perches and presents the images as "natural" bird images. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Or, consider the work of many hummingbird photographers. You've seen the images of hummingbirds frozen in flight with a perfect background and the hummingbird feeding on the perfect flower blossom. Natural? Hardly. Have you ever seen a hummingbird frozen in flight in nature? It is not unusual for the photographer to set up an artificial background on a stand, use cut flowers in a vase, and arrange up to six electronic flashes to provide perfect lighting and freeze the motion of the hummingbird's wings. This is nature?

Finally, consider a commercial venture that lures birds with feeders to an artificially created desert oasis. The oasis has the only permanently available water for miles around. This commercial venture has created pit blinds situated to take the best advantage of sun angles and offers a selection of artificial perches that a photographer may choose to use to pose the birds against perfect backdrops. For the privilege of photographing birds in pristine conditions, the commercial venture charges photographers up to $200.00/day. Is this nature photography? I don't think so.

This same sort of "engineered" photography applies not only to bird photography but applies to other genres of nature photography. Do you enjoy looking at close-up and macro images of bugs and flowers? It is not unusual for photographers to approach these subjects just as many avian photographers approach bird photography. The use of multiple lights and false backgrounds runs rampant in these types of images, too. We have only one sun in the sky and lighting with two or more electronic flashes destroys that feeling of sunlight. Yes, these photographers can make pretty pictures but are they nature images? I think not.

I would like to take the description of an "engineered" nature image to its logical conclusion, however. Photographers who use artificial means to photograph nature images are merely "photographic engineers" and not truly nature photographers. I am not the "Nature Image Police". It is up to you to decide If you will be a "nature photographer" or if you will be a "photographic engineer". The choice is yours.