Actually, these are at or very near the minimum FL of that lens, so macros were not my purpose so perhaps a mismatch of lens and subject is indeed the case.
1. Colors are beautiful. Feels like its a bit too softly focused.
2. Pretty, but the pine needle cluster takes away from the image. I wish some of the berries were in focus.
3. You continue to do nice work with the colors, saturation, contrast. The dead leaf detracts.
Appreciate your comments - some lessons learned from this exercise (I suppose I'm assuming I'll recall them next time out!)
1. The softness is due in part to a persistent gentle breeze - I stopped down the f-stop ~f8 intentionally; anything above 50% sizing is useless for all of that session.
2. What are the odds of a pine needle falling into the hole of the leaf? Not placed there by me, really.