Cant figure this out for the life of me!

[Jeff000]

Originally Posted by Slick Fork

Use a tripod and aperture priority mode to get the depth of field you want. Depending on lighting and your camera you can be between ISO 400-800 (1600 on mine) before you see any real "noise" in the image.

Biggest tip though is just shoot and shoot and then shoot some more, it doesn't cost you anything but your time and practice is the only surefire way to get to know your camera!

What camera do you use?
Noise on the D5100 is evident at iso400. This is also subject to how picky you are.
I shoot a D700, 85mm f1.4 is my go to lens, but it is not a macro. But just as a crop I can get some great shots. I have a 65mm macro, and it is only "ok" I think. But even with my 85mm I don't like shooting above 800 because I can start to see the noise, although most will say that it is noiseless past 1600.

Shoot and shoot some more is great advice.

Originally Posted by kobelka

Thanks. I did also end up getting an 85 mm macro lense. That is nice. When shooting in raw is there a certain program you use when adjusting pics on your computer?

That's a nice macro lens. You should be happy with it
Shooting Raw (NEF as you're shooting a Nikon) is not really for the beginner, what raw does it take away all the image processing from the camera and gives it to you. So unless you know what you are doing or have lots of time to figure it out it's not really something I would recommend, you can still adjust WB (which is the biggest headache when shooting a tank imo) from a high res jpg.