Shooting insects

I truly love shooting insects!  I use a Sigma 70-300 mm mounted on a 1.4x converter.  I have a manfrotto off camera mount for two flashes.  I use the Canon 550ex flash as the master and the Canon 420ex flash as a slave.  They talk via infrared.  In bright sunlight this setup is a little less than dependable.  I try not to shoot when the sun falls directly on the red infrared window.  I must manual focus with this setup.  Critical focus is a real challenge.  The eye must be in focus.  I sometimes must focus on the antennae if the eye does not contain a specular highlight or if it is a flat unreflective surface. If that fails, sometimes there is a white marking near the eye.  The double flash in broad sunlight eliminates or softens the sharp shadows.  I am learning to massage this setup to control the amount of background lighting.  I also must watch the subject coloration. If it has white, orange or yellow, I must use exposure compensation and/or flash exposure compensation to avoid blown highlights.  I shoot many shots and pick the ones I got in focus.  I am discovering new insects, to me, all the time.