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An intimate over-under look at a bullfrog sitting on a lily pad in a Canadian wetland
 

My very first foray into underwater photography began at a family cottage on Horseshoe Lake near Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada. It was fortuitous that there was a large wetland just a short five-minute paddle by canoe from the cottage. It was in this wetland that I spent countless hours exploring and learning underwater photography. This wetland consistently yielded a wealth of photographic opportunities but my absolute favorite subject to photograph were the prevalent American Bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeianus).

After years of capturing an array of standard macro and wide-angle perspectives of the bullfrogs, I decided to start experimenting with ideas to create over-under images. My gear of choice for starting out with the over-unders was a Nikon D500 and a Laowa 15mm 1:1 wide-angle macro lens inside an Ewa-Marine U-B100 flexible housing. Since the D500 has an APS-C sized sensor, I would achieve a focal length of 22.5mm full-frame equivalency when using the Laowa 15mm macro lens.
 

Over-unders give a unique perspective into two worlds, and sometimes, unexpected bonuses like reflected eyeballs are captured as well
 

Juvenile frogs were a lost cause—they were just way too skittish. The adults, however, would often allow me to pull my canoe right up alongside them for extended photo sessions. I preferred to photograph frogs sitting on lily pads, as this often provided better submerged elements for the images as opposed to dark, empty water that is typical of wetland environments. I often found that the early morning or late afternoon yielded the best conditions for frog photography.

Most wetlands in the Great Lakes region that offer suitable habitat for bullfrogs are covered in water lilies and typically have still, calm water, which makes controlling the waterline quite easy. I always used the D500’s manual mode setting for shooting these over-under bullfrog images. The Laowa 15mm wide-angle macro is a manual lens, so you have to dial in the aperture and manually focus the lens. My ISO would often range from 500 to 800 with an aperture of f/16. Shutter speeds were the most variable setting and the 1/40s to 1/200s range was generally where I lived for these pictures.
 

Wetland habitats are generally dark under the water; the lilypads provide some below-water interest besides just dark water
 

The Ewa-Marine flexible housing is designed much like a bag. I would not close the top of the housing. I would place the Nikon D500 with Laowa 15mm lens into the bag and then hold the setup at the desired distance of approximately 1 to 2 inches from the frog. I would then reach into the bag with my left hand to manually focus on the frog’s eye while in live view mode. DSLRs have terrible live-view autofocus but since the Laowa is a manual focus only lens, it wasn’t an issue.

After double checking for the correct exposure, I’d slowly submerge the setup and fire a series of images while doing so. The Ewa Marine housing remained open on top, as there was no need to totally submerge the setup. Debris in the water would cover the lens element on the housing and would require cleaning prior to shooting another set of images. This setup with the Ewa Marine flexible housing would not yield a crisp waterline like a dome port does, but it did yield very usable images.

It has been several years since I last visited my beloved wetland and its bullfrogs, and I long to return with my current underwater setup and dome port to create more frogtastic split shots!
 

An American bullfrog standing proud with flowers and a Canadian forest in the background
 

To see more of Andrew’s fantastic work, please give him a follow on Instagram and visit his website, www.andrewmclachlan.ca. Make sure to check out the DPG Photographer of the Week article on Andrew as well.