The detail on the droplets and the petals is lovely. I have a Sigma 105mm macro lens as well - I'm a long way from mastering it, so I'll leave the giving of advice to others.

Louis: Thank you Red Pen - oh the mysteries of the 105

I don't have much of an answer for you (not being a macro salt), but I suggest you try a larger aperture around f/22. You may be getting diffraction. I like the muted tones here.

Louis: Thanks Martin, I gather that by larger that you mean a larger opening and not a larger number (narrower aperture). I tried it this morning and it seems to help a little. But then you still have a narrow focus band - shucks.

Louis I also have the Sigma 105mm too, it is taking a bit of getting used to and have not totally mastered it yet myself, thats if you ever get to master anything really.
Are you using the focal points as this sometimes gives differnet focal areas?? Just an idea...
Love the shot BTW. Enjoy the weekend

Louis: Thanks Tracy - I am willing to pursue all ideas that seems to make some sense - so I will try it. Currently I use a single focus point, so I don't get the average for an area.

Maybe you can hold the flower in your hand, with macro it is not a problem with not capturing the hand. It keeps the flower more still and protect it against wind.

Louis: Thanks Chantal - some out of the box thinking - do something to keep the subject still.

I don't have a clue, Louis, which is why you hardly ever get a macro shot from me! When you find out, I'm sure we'll know you've mastered it!!! In the meantime, you are well on your way!

Louis: Thanks for the encouragement Ginnie, that is also required

Plants, like many humans, are a little coy when it comes to having their sex apparatus stared at...you need to approach to flower in a nonchalant "I am NOT looking at you" way, and then suddenly turn and grab the shot before the plant runs interference. The alternative approach is to offer lots of cash!

Ditch the macro lens for outdoor close-ups, Louis...a medium zoom instrument like the 70-200mm f4 L IS USM with a 25mm extension barrel works better outdoors...at least, it does for doddery old farts like me.

About this image...the jewel-encrusted petals work a treat for me.

Louis: I won the bet against me. I bet me that you will come up with shyness About the big lens - yes I am saving
The medium instrument - this morning I have tried my 19-200 in same situations - was changing lenses all the time. That seems to work but it is slower than the 105 and I seem to have to keep more distance. Still thinking about it.

A fine specimen, Louis.

Louis: Thank you chad and yes I have been mooning it

Wind is always a problem when shooting outdoor macro, when I try to get some macros of flowers I use manual focus and a aperture around f/16.

Louis: I have tried the bigger aperture this morning and it seems to help somewhat. But then you have a narrower focus band - I attacked a crab spider this morning. Thanks for the ideas, Magnus.

Lovely shot Louis. I am afraid I can't help you here!

Louis: Thanks for the comment then Richard.

Lovely colours and the dew on the petals is lovely. Not much help with the advice as I never had this problem with the 60mm unless the apparatus was right inside the petals.
I'm on the lookout for a new macro lens. As the 60mm doesn't fit the 5D. Should have considered that before I jumped in and bought it.
AJM now has the 300D and lenses, but he doesn't get much time to use them.

Louis: I have heard good things about the 60mm, so that must be a bummer for you. Thanks for the comment Aussie.

Geen stress. Eerst weekend. Maandag weer verder proberen.

Geniet je weekend. Groeten daar.

Louis: Maandag nieuwe project, groter stress Groetjes daar ook.

Oooh, that's scrumptious.

But, the 1s exposure is a bit of a giveaway, the flower has moved a bit while you were taking the picture. Use a fast shutter, wide open if necessary. It'll give you a very shallow depth of field, but then you might get the right bit in clear focus.

Have a peep at some of Nigel Clack's pictures, if you haven't already, and scrutinise his EXIF.

Hand holding a flower still doesn't work, they always wobble. You'd need to hold it with "something" and then perhaps use shutter delay or a remote release.

Louis: The 1s is the reason why I believe you previous outdoor remark. On the other hand the dew drops seems to be quite sharp but not the pollen stuff. My idea when taking the picture was to get as much as possible of the picture in focus. It did not work well.

My main issue is how the rest can be in good focus but not the pollen stuff.

Yes I did look at Nigel's pics a week ago (he's an artist) and he creates excellent compositions using a narrow focus band. I couldn't find examples where he used a very broad band of focus in a macro.

Chantal's idea of holding the picture by hand set me off on other ideas, like taking the flower indoors and lay it on a desktop or clamp it - the point is that it will be very still and I would have eliminated a number of factors - especialy if I put light on the subject.

I tried some of the ideas that the others provided, yesterday. Some of them visibly contributed towards better pictures. Some of the ideas are compromises.

I was getting disillusioned with what I am doing and the equipment. So I am trying to sort out which is which.

Thanks for your contributions to date.

This made me smile!

Louis: Thank you Ade

Sorry I missed this one, I would say the shutterspeed is the problem initiallly but you say you have others at faster speeds and the same issue. As you know I tend to use a shallow DOF, this is in fact an attribute of many macro lens's I believe.
I think we have the same lens, so I will try the same settings as you and see what I get. One thought is too much light bouncing around can create soft images.

Louis: Thanks for the comment and input Nigel.
As you may have seen when you visited here I did get a lot of advice and on the saturday following tried some of it that made sense. Some contributed to better pictures.
Maybe what I should accept is that not all instances/opportunities are good for macro.