Where is the sexual content warning. I mean my god. Do you have a model release, were they of age? Another really good one.
I have tried my hand at this type of photography and failed miserably. My DOF was always screwed up. Are you shooting wide open and moving the camera back and forth to tune focus? Any helpful hints would be great
They were a couple of weeks old - so likely they're underage too
When you say DOF is screwed up do you mean too litte or too much? To begin with one struggles to get enough DOF but after a point it becomes more about avoiding ugly background bokeh and diffraction.
Setting the plane of focus really carefully and paralleling the camera is crucial. I didn't have a focusing rail when I shot this but nowadays I use one. I use the 105 macro upto 2x and enlarger and other lenses reversed when I go beyond that. I have a small table to calculate an effective aperture of f22 to avoid diffraction. With the 105 I have automatic diaphragm control of course but have to set it manually with other lenses.
Too little. If I don't shoot wide open I get really ugly back grounds. Is this table on the net somewhere. My son loves bugs and I thought it would be cool to take some macro shots of them.
Mark, I made the table myself as a spreadsheet. It's particular to my lens combinations and magnifications. You need to know things such as the pupillary magnification factors of your lenses - so I wouldn't bother with it right away.
Do you know John Shaw's "closeups in nature" - that is a good and simple introduction to macro photography.