Hi Dizzie: Great macro shots. Shooting at extreme close up changes the dynamics of your depth of field and allows you some very interesting opportunities. As practice, pic one object, plants are always great because they have curved surfaces and objects on different planes. Photograph in macro with different focul length lenses and at different apperature settings. This will give you an idea of your depth of field at various distances with the different f stops. I'd use a tripod because your shutter speed will decrease significantly. If your not using daylight as a light source, use an off camera flash and keep it away from the subject and at an angle, otherwise you'll flatten the image and lose wanted texture. Ring flashes are good in some of these situations but can also flatten the image. I'd prefer off camera flash.