Now I can see what you have done I've had another go at altering the original. I don't think it's as good as yours, but it's an improvement.

Thanks again for your help.

I don't have Lightroom. I did try to alter the hue/saturation in Paintshop Pro, but don't really know enough to get the right settings. I'd love to see any efforts at improving it, thanks.

It was my Pentax 18-250mm which is the only lens I have with any length. It was AWB so suspect it has got the camera a little confused as it was very dark with a patchy sky.

To be honest I'm suprised it came out at all. I didn't think about any of the settings - just wanted to capture them before they went! The camera was set up for a manual macro lens when I grabbed it.

I've adjusted the colour on the original a bit which helps a little, but still doesn't look quite right.

Taken today as the clouds rolled in for yet another storm. Rained every day since Anglian Water imposed a hosepipe ban Better large - some of the contrast seems to be lost in the reduced image

Another day, another drought

[IMG]http://i393.photobucket.com/albums/pp15/chriseast/storm.jpg[/IMG]

Pentax K-r with Pentax 18-250mm @ 18mm, f14, 1/200, ISO 200.

I thnk these are Greylag's. Not at all rare, but funny to find a pair on the lawn earlier. By the time I'd grabbed the camera, swapped lenses and made as much noise as a herd of elephants they were disappearing. Just managed to grab a few shots of which this was the best. Snatched at 250mm in poor light so plenty of CA which I can't seem to remove in PP.

[IMG]http://i393.photobucket.com/albums/pp15/chriseast/geese.jpg[/IMG]

I had the 50mm with 120mm of tubes on the other day - I won't bother posting the results

I'm considering one of these too, but they are 1:2 macro, rather than 1:1 which I believe both of the Sigmas are. Fine for flowers and dragonflies/butterflies, but not quite enough for close-up insects.

If you are considering the tripod for macro work then you might want to just think twice before you splash out.

I bought one primarily for use with macro, but it's more or less impossible to use it for insects unless you have heaps of patience standing in one spot. If, like me, you are going to be hunting them out round the garden then a tripod is more hinderance than help.

By the time you have set it up the insects are long gone. Accessibility is a problem as well. If it's hard to get into corners with a 50mm then getting in with a a tripod is out of the question. I do all my insects hand held, mostly using catch in focus. I'm pretty certain all David's and Charlotte's are hand held too (though not with catch in focus) and a lot better than mine.

With some creative use of flash it's possible to get shutter speeds of up to 1/180 or so with an aperture of f16 for decent depth of field.

For flowers it's possible to use a tripod, but unless you are using longer shutter speeds it probably won't make much difference either.

The only time I tend to use a tripod for macro is photographing small things in the house to put on Ebay

Just as an additional thought.

As you have the M 50mm anyway it might be worth getting a set of decent auto extension tubes which will cost around £15, perhaps less if you keep your eye on Ebay or a 2x macro converter which will cost around £40.

It might be more challenging than the Sigma 105mm, but the images are likely to be just as good. That way you can experiment with macro for little money. If you decide you like it and want to upgrade you will get your money back when you sell.

That's where I am at the moment - just need the money! All the macros on my portfolio are with the M 50mm and tubes or converter.

I don't usually find a 50mm working length a problem when doing macros, even when I add tubes, but there is little doubt that being able to close focus when further away would be a benefit.

I often find myself pursuing something into a corner or tight spot and sometimes can't get the 50mm close enough into the small space to focus.

I use the same teleconverter as David and find this helps with little or no loss of quality.

Can't help with the Sigma lenses though, but have seen the odd negative comment about the 105mm when I've been daydreaming about a new macro lens.