msrif

I'm fairly new to macro photography, and heck to photography in general, but there was one thing that helped me tremendously.  

I covered the viewfinder and went with live view.  With live view, you can zoom in to see just how good the focus is on a close up item.  I have my camera set up to show how changes in camera settings look in live view.  So it's truly live view.  

I also have an LCD loupe which really allows a great look at how the picture is looking.  With the loupe and live view, I can really focus down very finely.  I think I prefer manual focus with my macro lens, but really need to use it more to find out what works best for me.  

Anyway, that's my small addition to the thread.  Really, those are great photos that you posted above.  As a plant person, I really like the dandelion photo as well! 

Thanks Ron.  I have a clip light that I've used in the past.  They are surprisingly bright.  I carry one of these in my pocket every time I'm out.  It seems to work really well for close up work.  And I'm now carrying a Streamlight that supposedly generates a thousand lumens of light.  Not sure it's that bright but it does light things up.  It hangs on my belt fine.  But I was just looking around for a light that can be focused narrow and wide.  It seems they are available but before I buy one, just wanted to know if anyone else has experience with some of these flashlights.  They can be pretty expensive.  

I'll take your advice about trying this around dusk.  Maybe that's where I need to start.  In the backyard!  :-)

Thank you Ron and TBonz.  Sure appreciate the help.  

TBonz, that's great advice.  I do remember to occasionally think about where I am when I'm taking these pictures.  This morning I was on Nature Conservancy land on the Apalachicola River.  It was just beautiful.  

Ron, I'm often under a canopy of trees, so it's pretty shady.  But I get what you're saying and will try to do this next time I'm out shooting.  And funny you should mention about cleaning.  I took all my filters out and thoroughly cleaned them yesterday.  That's good advice.  

After going over this problem again and again, I think I can trace the flaring back to when I purchased my first ND filter.  Maybe I need to really work on exposure when I use them.  

Thanks again for all the help.  

Ok folks, I went out and took a bunch of pictures with all kinds of configurations.  I also compared my 17 - 35 mm with my 20mm.  As far as I can tell, the flashing was reduced if I had both my hood on and covered the eye piece.  I also tried three filters, graduated ND, circular polarizer and 3 stop ND.  It seems to be a good bit worse with the graduated ND filter.  I took the shots early in the morning when the sun was coming through the trees.  Exposure times ranged from 3 to 8 seconds, depending on filter.  

So I think I'll head out in the morning with my 17 - 35mm on, make sure I use the hood, and also take my eye piece cover and use that too.  I'll be on one of my favorite trails before sunrise and will probably be taking some pretty long exposure shots so hopefully I can see an improvement with these shots.  

What do you guys think?  Any additional advice for this novice (but passionate!) photographer?

Thank you Peter, sure appreciate your help.  I'll be out early tomorrow morning looking at comparing several shots to see if I can reproduce that I've been seeing.  I'll also have my 20mm lens with me and will try that as well.  I'll try lots of shots with various comparisons and report back.  Sure is great to belong to these forums, you folks seem like you might like this photography stuff!  :-)

Thank you Adam and no worries.  Glad to be part of the forums and look forward to learning.