You can't get any simpler than how I take my pictures. The camera I use is a 5 mega pixel Lumix FX7 compact camera usually set on macro, but not always. I don't use any additional lights except what Mother Nature supplies. All my pictures are done on my patio table and only use the sun as the light source. The trick is to pick an overcast day so that the light is quite flat, that way you avoid the strong directional shadows. You are looking to capture a good tonal range, you can then give it a tweak in an image editing software if necessary.
All the pictures below are all shot in the above manner. None of them took me more than 10 minutes and that's for 10 to 15 shots off each pen.
Wow, those are super sharp pics you got there and I particularly like what you have done with one of my Banksia Hairy pods Resifills, come up stunning, that finish is superb.
As for taking good pics, I seen far too often everyday cameras producing better pics than many of the professional and expensive cameras, it all depends of the person behind the camera and the tricky part here is to define that type person, is a combinations of things that make make a average camera take exceptional pics, the one I find the most crucial, and in these days of digital cameras era, is not that difficult to experiment, what I mean is, find that "sweet" spot.
The sweet spot is a combination of location where the pics are taken, time of the day, the ideal light and camera position/settings
To start with, any camera with "macro" settings, that's the setting you should use then find the best distance to take the pic from. Using natural light is a simple method, direct sunlight is not always the best option, a shade can produce better results.
I can bundle all I said by explaining the reason why I said what I said, I was having a hard time is taking pics and have more importantly consistante results, I walked around the back yard with one pen blank sample finished with the normal CA finish, and the camera on the other hand set on super macro ( I have that option) the camera is a Kodak eazyshare MAX Z990 so, nothing special.
I simple went to different spots of the yard and looked at the blank through the camera to see if I could get a clear image and take a couple of shoots, rotate around and take a few more, change locations and remember where they are so that you can look at the pics and know where they were taken.
After you are done, seat down, download the pics into the computer and have a look at the ones that look best, go back to that spot and repeat to see if you got identical results, if you did, there is your sweet spot to start with, the only thing that can change things considerably is what day you are having (weather wise...!) when you take the pics, dark/overcast day won't work and that is the reason why people set-up light tents inside the house where they can repeat the process, any time of the day or night, all the light they require is artificial from the lights set with the tent/box.
My sweet spot is in my open working shed (roof on top), in between my bandsaw and my dust collector, pointing North, I get good results 90% of the time...!
My camera tell me that I'm taking about 500 pictures every month, in all sorts of places and conditions, that's a fair amount to process and store...!
Anyway, this is my take on the subject, I can recognize a "good" picture when I see it, I get a few of those but not as many as some of the guys here that got their "sweet spot" worked out right and have great cameras to go with, some natural ability also helps...!:wink::biggrin:
Good luck,
Cheers
George