Playing with Mrs W’s Tubes

I haven’t tried any true macro photography since the days when I had my old Cannon 35mm SLR camera, so today I borrowed Mrs W’s macro extension tubes, chose a bit of plant, and had a go.
 
Well the first session was a bit of a disaster.  First of all I chose the same bit of garden that Mrs W was trying to photograph a bee in, and frightened off the bee (I’m still in hope of getting dinner tonight . .  . ).  When I got the results back to the laboratory (computer) I found a blurred / out-of-focus spot in the middle of each shot. (See extra photos). Have I got a bad spot on the Tamron 18-270? 

Back out and tried again with the Sigma 10-20. Gave up with that as the only bit I could get in focus was with the shortest extension tube and a petal pressed up against the filter. (See extra photos again – I nearly blipped this one, it seems to say something).
 
So back to the Tamron and a close inspection of my tackle.  Low and behold there was a microscopic smear on the inside of the filter which I must have missed last time I cleaned.  So here is my first macro for over 30 years.