but the talent.
I got the camera. I got the lens(viv105/2.5). I got a willing subject. I got the light. I got time.
I don't see how in the world you macro gurus do it. You can catch a bee zooming by at a thousand miles an hour. Or a dragonfly. Or whatever. And get a beautiful composition.
I find a sleepy grasshopper in the relatively early morning. He says "I'm not going anywhere for awhile ER, give it your best shot, this is your chance!". WooHoo, piece of cake, ty! I've assembled the nicest camera I ever thought I would have along with reputably one of the sharpest lenses ever made. I still don't have a flash but in this instance I'm rewarded with light and a subject that don't require it. With all this going for me I should have been able to get THE grasshopper shot......and I failed. It's ok, I guess, but darn it I want to get a really really nice shot with everything in place, once, that's all just once. I mean twice would be nice but until I can do it once, I'll never do it again. If that makes any sense.
Number 1. This could have been it. I have him parallel to the focus plane, his entire wing is sharp, but wait, he has a flower growing out of his neck, weird hopper that one.
Number 2. Got it! Well, cept he's not sharp the length of his body and the shadow on his rear, that sucks. Not to mention the distracting leaves, themselves, on the left. I consider this a great picture, cept for the fact that it sucks.
Number 3. Hmmm, got rid of the distracting stuff, cept he's still off parallel of the focus plane and I don't have enough DOF, his eye and cheek are soft and part of his foreleg. But If I had stopped down to correct this something in the background would probably have started growing out of him again.
The point of all this is the more I try to do the more I appreciate the work you guys do to produce stunning photographs. As many have said, the equipment is a tool, nothing more. If you don't know how to use it you might as well be shooting with a brownie.