The Tamron SP 180mm Macro lens allows Jie Lin to capture the intricacies and colors of the smallest inhabitants of a Cali preserve.

By Jenn Gidman
Images by Jie Lin

Aerospace engineer by day, macro photographer by—day. Or at least the earliest part of the day, which is Los Angeles resident Jie Hua Lin's favorite time to capture his highly detailed photos of the grasshoppers, frogs, and other tiny creatures that reside in the Madrona Marsh Preserve in Torrance, California. "I'm grateful that I can have access to the marsh in the early mornings," he says. "This is so important for the macro photos I take, because I'm able to capture them while the light is soft and the insects are usually sleeping."

© Jie Lin

Jie's favorite lens: the Tamron SP 180mm Macro. "If I were only allowed to have one lens, I would pick the 180," he says. "The lens offers a 1:1 (life-size) macro reproduction ratio, which allows me to capture a wide variety of small insects. The lens is also very sharp. What I like most about this lens, though, is that 'buttery' background blur I'm able to achieve due to the long focal length of the lens."

With a minimum focusing distance of 18.5 inches, the 180 Macro allows Jie to get very close to his subjects. "I don't want to have to come back and crop the image, because I don't want to degrade the image quality," he says. "I want to compose before taking a picture rather than after. I have a full-frame camera and also one with a smaller sensor, which I can use from a little bit further away."

Wind, harsh sunlight, and insect movement can be the bane of every macro photographer in the field. "To overcome these challenges, I take pictures of insects very early in the morning when the wind is low and the sunlight is soft," Jie says. "I use only natural light, though I'd like to explore using flash in the future. I'll use a reflector to fill in the shadows and a diffuser to soften any instances of harsh sunlight."

The insects are also calmer in the early part of the day. "They're more approachable due to the lower temperatures," Jie says. "Once everything's warmed up, they start flying around everywhere, which makes finding a good shot difficult."

To eliminate extraneous elements with a clean background—and also help protect the insect—Jie cuts a piece of grass or leaf and places it on a special holder he made. "It's simply a clamp installed on a small tabletop tripod," he says. "When I'm on location, it's very difficult to get the camera in front of a bug that close with exactly the lighting and background I want. Using this holder, I can get any angle or background, with any lighting direction, and it doesn't hurt or affect the insect in any way. Then when I'm done, I simply put the leaf or grass where it came from and the bug flies away after it wakes up."

With an advanced optical formula that includes two LD (Low Dispersion) glass elements, the 180 allows Jie to achieve supersharp images of the tiny critters in front of his camera. He maximizes that sharpness by using a tripod and scoping out the best angle to showcase his subject's detail. "I usually like to take a picture so that the largest surface of the subject is in focus, which means I'm usually taking the photo from the side of most insects," he explains. "While I've been able to get some incredibly detailed images shooting from above the insect or straight on, I don't think I would have been able to get as much detail in many of my pictures if I hadn't chosen that side angle."

Seeking out unusual scenes and compositions is Jie's goal when he's wandering through the preserves. "I always try to display detail, color, and lighting, though sometimes it can be hard to capture all three of these elements simultaneously," he says. "I also try to look for things that are spur of the moment or out of the ordinary, like the picture of the flower with the bugs congregated in the center, or the frog with the bug on its face. That was a lucky shot—I was taking a picture of the frog when a bug suddenly jumped on his mouth. Normally the frog would eat the bug, but for some reason it didn't this time. I try to be ready for opportunities like that."

Patience is paramount in most types of photography, but especially in macro work. "Sometimes I take a two-hour walk and don't find any insects, or maybe they're moving around too much to get good pictures," Jie says. "I've seen other photographers who bring the insects into their house and store them in the fridge to calm them down. I'm against these techniques—please don't hurt your subjects. If you're patient enough, you'll eventually get the shot you want. If you can't get a shot this time, there's always next time."

To see more of Jie Hua Lin's images, go to www.flickr.com/FloraBug.