Macro Studio, Part 1

This will be a two-part post focusing on macro photography - specifically, it will discuss the importance of how creative solutions triumph over expensive lighting equipment any day of the week. Well, I guess creative solutions plus expensive lighting is better, but who's arguing?

Both shots for this post were done with a small bowl, water, a spoon for water drops, a single flash, and some post-processing to top it off. Oh, and a boat-load of trial and error. 

No, the images don't come out of the camera looking like that - I didn't add the water drop, but I did crop it and add some color.

Expensive solution: super-expensive macro lens and super-expensive lighting.

Creative (Cheap) solution: Lots of cropping and a single flash.

Call me crazy, but I like the second option a little better.