The field is usually composed of one or more tinctures (colours or metals) or furs.
In rare modern cases, the field or a subdivision thereof is not a tincture but is shown as a scene from a landscape,[1] or, in the case of the 329th Fighter Group of the United States Air Force, blazoned as the sky proper.
[2] Landscape fields are regarded by many heralds as unheraldic and debased, as they defy the heraldic ideal of simple, boldly-coloured images, and they cannot be consistently drawn from blazon.
The arms of the Inveraray and District Community Council in Scotland have as a field In waves of the sea.
The correct language of heraldry is very flexible and virtually any image may be blazoned in a correct manner; for example "sky proper" might be blazoned simply Azure or bleu celeste, whilst "waves of the sea" might be blazoned correctly as Azure, 3 bars undee argent which would provide 3 wavy thick white lines on a blue field.