I've since experimented with using higher f-stops (smaller apertures) to broaden my DoF on macro shots. Despite my initial skepticism, it definitely works, but it requires longer shutter speeds. Which in turn requires a tripod.
The longer the shutter is open, the more light is captured—but also the more motion. So unless both the camera and subject are perfectly still, the image will be blurry. Which is why a tripod is needed.
I've also experimented with focus bracketing/stacking —although only once so far. The process seems to work, but there are a lot more variables to get right than just aperture and shutter speed. Plus, it still requires a tripod.
So which process seems better suited for me? While neither feels really ideal, so far I have much more patience for the aperture/shutter method of controlling DoF. Even having to stand back and wait for a 30-second exposure - - likely because I've reduced the aperture all the way down to f/22, in an attempt to get the widest DoF on my tiny objects - - it feels more like photography than loading a bunch of images into Photoshop and seeing how the software will magically composite them. Photography may have gone digital, but the fun of it is not in software tricks—it's in taking the pictures. Mastering light and composition.
