I actually first got into photography to capture images of my plants. I'd always had little point-and-shoots, but a couple years ago, I got serious and bought a DSLR. The initial costs were pretty high for the gear, but hopefully I won't be replacing this stuff any time soon! It also took some time and effort to really understand the ins and outs of proper exposures, but to me at least, it has all been worth it. My current kit: Canon Digital Rebel XT body Canon EF-S 60mm Macro (the lens I used to take the Hoya shots) Canon EF 24-105mm (the lens I use for pretty much all the other photos I post) Canon EF-S 10-22mm (don't post many pics shot with this lens, but it is tons of fun!) Canon Speedlite 580EX (95% of the photos I take use a flash, even in broad daylight) Canon MR-14EX macro ring light (A good ring light makes taking macro shots much less frustrating) Here is a link to a gallery of all my succulent photos: Succulent collection

scubastan, I'm not good at describing the s/h method, and I was going to provide a link, but unfortunately it was blocked because it said I was promoting the site. The only thing I'm providing is info, but now I am forced to explain semi-hydro. And since I'm not an expert and find it difficult to explain, I'm almost inevitably going to do a realy lousy job at it. From what I understand, s/h to me is just like those self-watering pots you see all over. You know, the ones where you put the potting soil in a compartment over a reservoir of water and the soil wicks up the water. Well, semi-hydro is almost exactly the same, only you use hydroponic media like hydroton/LECA. You can make the pots yourself at home by putting a few holes an inch or so above the bottom of any plastic container of the appropriate size for your plant. This provides the reservoir. Then you fill the container with LECA media and when you water thoroughly, any excess will exit the holes while the water in the reservoir wicks up through the media. The only thing you have to do is top off the water when needed so it is filled up to the holes. From what I understand (with orchids, anyway), you only weakly fertilize with this method. I'm doing something similar with my miltoniopsis. I have it in a net pot filled with hydroton and it is submerged about 1/2 inch to an inch below the surface of my tank. The clay on top shines slightly so I know the water has wicked up into the clay media. I just checked the roots today and noticed a new growth on one of the roots. Thankfully, it's working for me. I've never tried it before.

and the second one, in progress All taken on 35mm SLRs, some with macro lens others with basic homemade setups. Here is a link that might be useful: Macro page 2

Thanks, Martin! I'm relieved you that you consider that an acceptable shot lol And yes, that was a bit of fur from Hodor the cat who likes lying down on my haworthias. Macro photography (and my battle to learn it) is what got me into plants in the first place. I am a firm believer in splurging on lenses and prioritizing it over a camera body upgrade. Also, other than the fact that my old D60 has extreme sentimental value, the reason I have been successful at talking myself out of getting a d3300 is because I shoot almost exclusively on manual mode anyway and have no use for bells and whistles. Although I could certainly use the 12k ISO with that yummy 25k ISO boost. I also have this crackpot idea of getting a cheap D3200 and having the block filters removed so I can shoot in UV. I'm told my D60 is so old its IR/UV built-in filters are weak anyway and can probably do this already but I haven't tried. I need to get a UV black filter to test it. And a xenon flash. On and on and on. Bottom line, it's really the D810 I want. And I just confessed to my real hobby, to which plants are only incidental.