Canon Elan IIe, tripod Sigma 105 EX Macro Fuji Provia 100F f8, 1/30 second

Dewpoints

Macro can be tricky – depth of field drops significantly, and decreasing the aperture to increase DOF results in slow shutter speeds. This might allow movement, either of the camera or of the subject, to ruin your photo. Using a flash to super-illuminate your subject, so you can use that small aperture and still have a fast shutter, often means that the background drops into darkness, looking very unnatural. So then you're trying two flashes, and now your setup is heavy, bulky and awkward. You get the idea.

In this case, I was working with natural light, since flash would have destroyed the background and shadows and changed the appearance of the dew. I used a tripod (carefully, couldn't disturb the leaf!), and got straight on with the leaf, to keep as much of it the same distance from the lens and in focus (you can see the stem is out before it even joins the plant). Set my aperture and used the Depth Of Field Preview function to check it, and triggered the camera remotely with Mirror Lock-Up active to reduce vibrations as much as possible. And let's not forget waiting for the breeze to die down.

Finicky? Yes. In some cases, that's what it takes...