WOW Abe! That is a huge improvement. Less than 12 hours and you have mastered in-camera white balance. You just need to know where to look – it’s all in the User Manual, but putting it together is another story. These shots are much better and you didn’t need fancy flash and expensive gear. As you know, I am big fan of the point-and-shoot cameras and your examples are proof positive that they can take fantastic macro pictures of flies. I’m laughing out loud when I see a size 22 midge in frame with correct white balance out of a Pentax W60.
Have you read my tutorial on getting started with point-and-shoot? Check it out here http://flyartstudio.com/wordpress/?p=187. Lot’s of additional tricks on how to get light on the front of the fly to open up the shadows and mid-tones.
Are you using a Gorilla Tripod yet? If not, go buy one. Also, are you using the timer delay shutter release? Your pictures still have a slight amount of camera shake and that can be negated by using the tripod and delay release.
Strong work. I can tell you are having fun.
***Check out Abe’s previous post*** http://www.itinerantangler.com/cgi-bin/board/YaBB.pl?num=1242779982.