I do a lot of macrophotography with my Canon, learning most of the tricks from a stock 50mm lens + extension tubes. I had recently moved on to a 100mm macro. As for examples, you can look here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/87421607@N04/with/22833900363/

Using a rail on a tripod would be great for basically immobile subjects, but it is not hard to do macro with a hand-held camera and perhaps Rink is wanting to do that based on the honeybee picture. Almost all my stuff is done hand-held. Shoot at 1/200 second or faster, use a well diffused flash when needed, and do manual focus by leaning in and out. To help steady the camera, I use a 1/4" long wooden dowel rod, sort of like a monopod, gripping the rod and camera in my left hand. The right hand adds support to the camera and works the shutter.
I have no idea what 'focus peaking' is, so clearly there is more to learn, but anyway I think you can do pretty well by eye, using the viewfinder or lcd screen. Electronically enlarging the image on the lcd screen for critical focusing is good, at times (but wow, it shows how shaky things are when hand-held!), but if the subject is gonna fly off or move then fussing with is not much help. You can consider other ways to assist in focusing that do not take time, like an lcd screen viewfinder that enlarges the lcd screen (like this: MegaGear 2.8x DSLR LCD Screen Viewfinder), but I found that that helps with one issue while introducing new problems. Namely, the lens steams over when pressing your eye against it while outdoors on a hot summer day. Also the adhesive used to mount the thing onto the viewfinder gets soft in the heat, so the thing falls off. And the magnets come out.
My method is to just take a lot of pictures. With the help of a fast shutter speed and diffused flash, a couple almost always turn out.

I do a lot of close-up photography of insects, and I would add to comments by suggesting that you consider the background of your main subjects in a picture. Background objects (and foreground in the case of the 2nd picture) will be out of focus in close-up photography, but they can still be in sufficient focus to be a bit distracting. So consider what you can do to make them less distracting. Opening the aperture a bit can help, but then of course focus becomes even trickier. I would also consider moving some items aside to make your composition what you want, while still making it look natural.

Entomologist here. This is shot from the back, and slightly below. I am absolutely certain. The white spots you see on the wings are spots of metallic silver on the underside of the hind wings. Getting those to look like metallic silver in a photograph, by the way, is a nice challenge that I recommend people try to capture. I only succeeded this year after a few years trying.

Anyway, this is a good picture, as it is challenging to get the entire insect in focus at such a steep angle. Well done.

I dont' know about solutions to the issue. Can an old EF lens be re-chipped by the manufacturer or by another company to make it work on a newer body? That might help my problem that I have, if it does not cost much.

The old Tokina lens may no longer be compatible with a newer Canon body. I had a similar problem with an older Sigma lens. It works perfectly with the earlier model EF canon bodies, but in my 'new' T5i body, I get the problem you describe unless I shoot with the aperture wide open. My hunch is that Canon does not maintain backwards compatibility with non-Canon lenses.

I am wondering if the problem could be from pulling out and inserting the card from the camera. There would be some wear and tear from that.

It is a Polyphemus moth, Antheraea polyphemus.

It is an Eastern tiger swallowtail, but what is curious is that it should be more yellow. Maybe a color variant.

Someone told me that 'refurbished' lenses sold by the manufacturer (or a major retailer) almost always means that the lens was returned by a customer after barely using it. Maybe it came as part of a kit, or as an unwanted gift, and of course the lens would go back to its original outlet.
This makes sense to me since the manufacturer / retailer would not really want to fuss with it too much, since they are high volume operations. Opening up a lens, internally cleaning it, and so on would cost time (and therefore $ spent on the technician), and it is just not worth it. So it makes sense that the lenses they sell as refurbished don't need that.

In addition to the points above, I think you can use this to connect your computer to your flat screen television to display your computer screen onto your television. Connect the usb to the computer, and the multi-pin connector to the tv. You may need to add an adapter to change the gender of the multi-pin end. With the tv remote select PC as your input device.

I agree with letmedance. The moon is not perfectly full here, as the sun is clearly illuminating it from the left. So features on the left side are not projecting shadows.

I would go along with many who have advised to just try out both to see which one feels best to you in your hands. If one brand has a layout of controls that you intuitively understand (perhaps b/c the layout is similar to your former brand), then seriously consider that one.

Drove 50 miles to my favorite scenic park with my camera and all my gear for some nature shooting. Hiked in, set up for my first pictures of the season by turning on the camera. Nothing. I suddenly realized the battery was still sitting in the charger at home.

I wonder if you could get a razor, and carefully lift the contacts on the lens a teeny bit so they make batter contact with your camera body. Looking at one of my Canon lenses, I see that the contacts are little brass flaps so maybe they could be nudged out a little.