Because a viewer's eye always goes to the brightest part of a given image before looking at the rest, try to control or eliminate hot spots in your composition. Avoid highly contrasted subjects.

Bright overcast skies and rainy days are the best times to obtain, saturated and evenly lit images.

In macro photography it is especially important to confine the viewer's eye to your subject. As such, it is important to avoid a "busy" image with unwanted distractions in the background. Strive to obtain a uniform, monochrome, out of focus background.

Before clicking the shutter, run your eyes around the perimeter of the frame looking for branches, twigs, etc. sticking partially into the frame.

Use your depth of field preview button to analyze the image before taking the exposure. If the image is too dark to see at f/16 or f/22 try using Beattie Inter screen viewing screens. These will brighten the screen by a factor of two to four.

Get "flat on" with your subject. That is, make sure the plane of the film is parallel to the plane of the image. Said another way, try, by moving the position of the camera, to minimize the difference in the distance to the film of the nearest part of your subject and the furthest part of your subject.

If you have a mirror lock up feature on your camera, use it to reduce camera vibration and blurred images.

Make sure, if your subject has them, that their eyes are in focus. Viewers tend to look at the subject's, eyes and get a biased impression of overall image sharpness.

Focusing rails can be very helpful with getting a sharp image and are a convenient way of moving the camera body instead of moving the entire tripod.

Due to low shutter speeds Macro photography rarely works on windy days. You can partially compensate by using a higher film speed.

Generally, unless your subject is a flat two dimensional object, shooting at less than f/16 or f/22, will probably result in an out of focus image.

When composing the image, figure our where your camera needs to be by hand holding then attach it to a tripod and position the tripod to duplicate your original camera position.

Using Nikon 3T, 4T, ST or 6T close up lenses on your camera's regular lenses will allow you to get images without a macro lens. Also, you can stack the 3 and 4 (or the S & 6) to allow you to get closer to your subject.

Extension tubes will also allow you to get closer to your subject, thus increasing the apparent size of your subject.

To reduce contrast or to increase available light, try using reflectors. Photoflex makes a number of reflectors in different sizes. I like the warm light produced by using a gold reflector. Just don't over do it. Too much gold light can detract from your image.

Look for ways to isolate your subject. Using aluminum rods with clothes pins is one way to accomplish this. Isolating your subject in this manner can increase the amount of available light, simply the camera / tripod positioning, reduce distracting elements and provide for a nice soft background. The latter can be attained by shooting the subject in the shade using a shaded field in the background. Also you can see Norm Thompson for a set of aluminum poles. They can also be useful for increasing light and simplifying the camera / tripod positioning.

An atomizer can be a convenient way of creating instant dew.

If you are photographing in early morning light you should probably use an 81A or 81B warming filter to reduce the bluish cast. This is especially true if you are shooting in the shade.

You can also use Photoflex diffusers to 1) create shade thus reducing contrast and 2) to block intermittent breezes which may cause your subject to move.