Underwater pictures from Arkansas from the past year

I just recently started contributing to this forum, and I thought I'd introduce myself properly. My name is Isaac Szabo, and I'm located in Northwest Arkansas. One of my favorite activities is taking underwater pictures of native fish while snorkeling. I thought I'd share a few of my photos from the past year. All of these were taken in the Arkansas Ozark Mountains.

Orangethroat Darter, Big Piney Creek:


Smallmouth Bass, Buffalo River:


Longnose Gar, Buffalo River:


Hornyhead Chub, Big Spring. This guy was guarding his nest:


Banded Darter, Buffalo River:


Duskystripe Shiner, Big Spring:


Longear Sunfish and Smallmouth Bass, Buffalo River:


Banded Sculpin, Bear Creek:


I think this is an Ozark Minnow, Notropis nubilus. Can anyone confirm this ID?


Hornyhead Chub, Longear Sunfish, and Whitetail Shiner:

Welcome Isaac! Those are all absolutely stunning pictures, and I would like to say that I would definitely use any/all of those as desktop backgrounds if given half a chance!

Wow wow wow wow wow. I am so glad you're joined our community here Issac.

Yes, that's nubilus. He seems pretty fired up to be off the nest, but that might just be my ignorance about what they're doing in the wild.

I am completely jealous of the crystal clear water you get to work in! That makes "Casper Clear" look cloudy lol (you'll learn about El Snorkelmeister before long, I'm sure

What are you shooting with?

Thanks for taking time to post these pics!

Todd

Wow, those pics are awesome. That Duskystripe Shiner is amazing and so is that Gar, I'm blown away

Yes Issac you are a welcome addition here. Photography equipment has gotten inexpensive and reliable enough to get it in the hands of snorkelers. There is so much amazement to see in our waters. We have had 2 convention out your way in the recent years and a repeat is planned for MO in a few more years.
Your pics are high color, very vivid. All but one pic shows a very clean substrate.
Please keep us posted on your spring activities. We have all had cabin fever and eager to start testing the waters as you can see from recent posts.
If you ever want to get over to Chattanooga i will show you some new species. A bonus to this pleasure as it seems every drainage can offer new species in North America.
Watching those Chub nests is a wild scene! We have River Chubs over here. Blueheads to the East.
Casper

These pictures make me wish I didn't live in an area that I was afraid to swim in. Very impressive! Add me to the list of people wanting to know your camera setup.

wow wow wow....may i ask your setup? im looking to get into underwater pictures...those are amazing and welcome

Holy cow, those are nice photos!

Welcome to the forum. It sounds like you'll fit right in!

i checked out yoru site. all your pics are truly amazing.

If you ever want to get over to Chattanooga i will show you some new species. A bonus to this pleasure as it seems every drainage can offer new species in North America.
Watching those Chub nests is a wild scene! We have River Chubs over here. Blueheads to the East.
Casper

Hey Casper, are you hosting another South Chick adventure this year? I promise I'll wear better shoes and practice whitewater walking first...

those photos are amazing, among the clearest and most colorful underwater photos i ever seen.

Thanks everyone. These are all natural light photos shot with Nikon D300 and D90 cameras. The lenses used were the Nikon 60mm f/2.8 macro and the Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 wide angle zoom. The housing is a cheap DICAPac WP-S10 that I modified (it is pretty much useless in its stock state).

Welcome Isaac! Those are all absolutely stunning pictures, and I would like to say that I would definitely use any/all of those as desktop backgrounds if given half a chance!

Thanks, Derek. I don’t mind if you use these photos for your background.

I'll add on to the kudos and be the second to request higher rez copies for desktop backgrounds, although I completely understand if you wish not to. Those are amazing photographs, with perfect framing, lighting, and all the other technical aspects over which I am personally mostly useless.

Color me impressed. More! More! ;P

Put 'em in a book and I'd buy it.

I am completely jealous of the crystal clear water you get to work in! That makes "Casper Clear" look cloudy lol (you'll learn about El Snorkelmeister before long, I'm sure

Todd

Most of the water around here is not that clear, but I am lucky to have a few good spots close by.

Yes Issac you are a welcome addition here. Photography equipment has gotten inexpensive and reliable enough to get it in the hands of snorkelers. There is so much amazement to see in our waters. We have had 2 convention out your way in the recent years and a repeat is planned for MO in a few more years.

Thanks Casper. Yes, our waters are full of interesting and beautiful things. I do regret that I was not yet part of NANFA when the convention was held in my home state.

Your pics are high color, very vivid. All but one pic shows a very clean substrate.
Please keep us posted on your spring activities. We have all had cabin fever and eager to start testing the waters as you can see from recent posts.
If you ever want to get over to Chattanooga i will show you some new species. A bonus to this pleasure as it seems every drainage can offer new species in North America.
Watching those Chub nests is a wild scene! We have River Chubs over here. Blueheads to the East.
Casper

Thanks for the invitation - I’d love to explore the Chattanooga waters with you sometime.

I'll add on to the kudos and be the second to request higher rez copies for desktop backgrounds, although I completely understand if you wish not to. Those are amazing photographs, with perfect framing, lighting, and all the other technical aspects over which I am personally mostly useless.

Color me impressed. More! More! ;P

Put 'em in a book and I'd buy it.

Thanks khudgins. I’m fine with people using these small pictures for personal use such as desktop backgrounds. However, I’m not comfortable with making higher resolution copies available for free since fine art nature and underwater photography is somewhat of a business for me.

wow nice pictures please post more lol

Thanks everyone. These are all natural light photos shot with Nikon D300 and D90 cameras. The lenses used were the Nikon 60mm f/2.8 macro and the Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 wide angle zoom. The housing is a cheap DICAPac WP-S10 that I modified (it is pretty much useless in its stock state).

Really excellent shots! How much processing did you do on the images? They look like saturation and contrast have been bumped, but could just be really colorful fish in very clear water.

I used to be a total purist and never did any digital adjustments to my photos. Now I've decided that I'm fine with anything that makes the image appear more as it did to my eye at the time I took it -- but enhancing it beyond that still feels like "cheating".

In "clear" water there's dissolved sediment that takes an angry toll on light and color, even before the properties of water take their swipe. So I've never had a problem with making some "adjustments" to make it look right

Now reef aquarium pictures where people make things bonzo pink or blows my mind purple... Yeah, that's crap.

Todd