Macro with flash or without?

Yes. Some days I use all or mainly flash, some days natural light, some days I flip back and forth between flash and natural light. It depends on the circumstances and my mood. As the magnification increases, especially beyond 1:1 it becomes increasingly likely that I'll use flash.

Yes. Well, sort of. I use a tripod to help with framing shots and retaining the framing for sequences of shots and to dampen down hand shake. For the most part though I keep my hands on the camera so they aren't tripod shots in the normal, hands-off sense. I need very still air to use hands-off tripod shots, and I live in a breezy location so that isn't very often. But when I get the chance I do capture hands-off, using a remote release.

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Nick
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gardenersassistant/