Brand new to macro insect photography with Nikkor 105mm

[loopylulu]

My wife purchased a Nikkor 105mm and a Nikon D3100 DSLR for me as she knows how much I want to start a hobby focusing on insect macro photography.

I was playing around with it today but I am brand new to this type of photography and I am very much a novice photographer to begin with. I understand the basic language.

I attached a quick picture I took today of something I caught inside our house, a terrible photo I know.

I also included a link to Thomas Shahan picture.
Eyes of an Adult Female Phidippus putnami Jumping Spider | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I am wondering can I get such a closeup shot of an insects face using just my setup as this is the reason my wife purchased the Nikkor 105mm. I am hoping I have not bit off more than I can chew and now I have to buy even more equipment. Thomas's picture is the type of picture I am looking to eventually take or something similar. I am nowhere near his abilities and he is certainly not the only well established photographer, I was just using his as an example.

Why does my insect still seem so far away. I cannot remember the exact settings I was using, I was using the aperture priority mode and I was sticking with F5.6. I was inside so obviously the light was terrible. My concern is that it does not seem like there is a lot of magnification to give me the detail I am looking for.

My second question if you do not mind is, how do I approach a subject, do I set the focus ring on the macro lens to 1:1 and then move close or further away or do I let the lens focus itself or how do I approach the setup and if you can suggest any settings to use with insect photography on my D3100.

Thanks so much for your help.

[Rehesan]

I think in order to get some photos like Thomas Sahan's, you will need more than just a 1:1 macro lense, this is because Thomas Photos have a lot of magnification (4:1 by his photo description), in order to achieve that you can use some extension tubes and as Thomas did, a reversed lense, check out the forum as I recall should be a topic describing how to make a reverse lense.

I also see the image on Thomas has some cropping, so that gives the photo a little bit more magnification.

Do not feel uncouraged in any way, I am sure you can achieve your photography goals, it is just a matter of keep on learning

Cheers mate!

[loopylulu]

Can I use the 18-55mm lens that came with the D3100 to act as a reverse lens with my Mikkor 105?

I would then just have to purchase a reverse ring adapter. Is this safe? is there any chance of damaging either lens?


thanks