First Attempt at Macro: Need Tips for improving

[bproud4ever]

Nikon D40x 55-200 Nikon Lens at 55mm
F/5.6
1/125 sec
ISO 100

I took these just after 8am this morning, I took several more today that I think are some of the best I've taken this year. I went out with the intention of taking some landscape pictures and ended up taking macro flower and bug pictures, so I just wished I'd had the 18-55 kit lens with me.
I really liked the little golden bee on the flower, I had never seen a bee with that color, almost like a gold suit of armor.
This is my first attempt and although I know it's not true Macro, I'm proud of my result. Any constructive criticism is welcome, just be gentle with me, lol, I fancy myself a sensitive artiste'. Looking for any ideas for what I could have done better. No post-processing this is straight from the camera and cropped.

[BigFuzzy]

I think it's quite a good 1st attempt.

The one thing that jumped out at me is that it feels flat. Try to boost the contrast a bit and I think you'll like what you'll see. If you use Lightroom, use the clarity slider.

I can't see the sharpness since it doesn't link to a larger image, but it seems sharp enough.

You should be happy with your first efforts. Well done (even if it's not a true macro).

[bproud4ever]

Good Idea, Thanks for the suggestion. I have several more that I thought were great. This is my first critique post, and only my second post period on this site, so I wasn't sure about the size of the image. I read the guidelines closely and then edited the size on Photobucket, so should I put the image duplicate on photobucket at original size and also add a link to it that way? Did I have enough EXIF data? Is there anything I left out that could help you to help me? Sorry, I'm a newbie to posting in forums like this. And I use Photoshop, is Lightroom better? Is it expensive? Like most people on here I'm on a strict budget.

Adjusted contrast here:



Here's a link to a full size version of the image.
http://i750.photobucket.com/albums/x...DSC_0162-1.jpg