Christoph I never thought about including a Shadow in fact i went to great pains to keep it out,however i do see what you mean and may try another shot later. Tim this was taken with my Nikon 24/85 macro zoom and yes it was in macro mode and as this lens is not macro through it's entire range you have to set it up for macro use. I would be intrested in your comments as to where I've gone wrong so as to help me do it correctly next time
Its just that a dedicated macro lens would give you that extra bit of sharpness which is lacking in a non dedicated macro is all

I find the same when I have tried to use my 300mm f4 L in its macro range ... it just lacks that sharpness.