Tiny Tuesday - Big Depth of Field

I decided to use cacti as my subject for this challenge as the spikes on them are a good way to check whether they are in sharp focus. Using a 50mm macro lens I was shooting from about 15 inches (38cm) away and the distance between the two cacti was roughly 2.5 inches (6.3cm). As you can see the spines on both cacti are sharp at the front but by the stage you get to the second cactus the flowers and the rear spines are beginning to go soft. 

This was a definitely the maximum dof I could get at this distance as I initially tried by focusing on the front of the first cactus but using hyperfocal distance I then focussed towards towards the back of the first cactus and this gave me a better dof with the front spines being sharp enough and also giving clarity ar the second cactus..In the end of the day this felt like a challenge for my equipment as much as for myself and normally I would use focus stacking to get everything in sharp focus.