Macro is difficult enough, with out this...

As we know, macro photography is difficult, ie even with closed down apertures we still have very narrow depths of field.

On top of that, macro photography can take the environment out of the image: leading to rather subject-fixated images.

A while ago I bought a rather unusual lens: the Laowa 15mm f/4 Wide Angle Macro:

Billed as the world’s widest 1:1 Macro Lens, it features an ultra-wide 110 degrees angle of view of with 1:1 maximum magnification. Thus achieving focus very close to the subject but at the same time, able to include background details, ie to show where and how the subject lives. Rather unusually, it also has with a +/- 4mm shift feature.

I also have the Macro Twin Flash KX-800 from the same company: https://www.venuslens.net/

To complement the set up, as I like getting low, I also have a PlatyPod Max and the ReallyRight Stuff  BC-18 Micro Ball:

Finally, I need to add in my Varavon Multifinder, which allows me to access LV from above the camera:

Pulling all this together you end up with a 5D3 that now looks like this on my kitchen work surface:

As for what all the above can do: all I can offer at the moment is a test image from the garden and a row of mushrooms:

This image was taken at not a very large magnification, with the manual aperture of the lens closed down to F/32 and a downward shift of a few millimeters. 

Clearly this is not an award-winning image: just a test capture; and I have much more practicing to do with this rather unique set up. Look out for more reporting :-)