Macro Photography: I love it but it doesn't reciprocate

Macro Photography is one of the things that I am very interested in when it comes to nature photography. It is the one thing that drew me into taking my high school photography in the first place. Though I am passionate about it and I absolutely love it... I am not very good at it. In my high school class, we only had one macro lens to use and the teacher was very hesitant to let anyone use it in fear that it would get broken. Which, with that expensive of a lens mixing with high school kids, I can understand why she was so hesitant. Anyways, I have always had a knack for noticing the detail in things, like the way light shines through flower petals or the grooves of tree bark, and to be able to capture an image of the things that I see in nature would be amazing if I knew the proper techniques and right angles to capture the image. So in an attempt to gain more knowledge in this area, I came across an article which helped a little bit. 10 Macro Photo Tips for Beginners by Micael Widell (https://petapixel.com/2017/10/02/10-macro-photo-tips-beginners/ ) was a great article to start with to expand my knowledge.

Here are some of the things that I learned:
1. Whenever you are trying to capture images of bugs and little creatures, you will likely want to go to a botanical garden or even a park. The best time to do this is either on overcast days or when the weather is 63 degrees or warmer. The overcast will make the light a little less harsh than say a 40 degree day in the fall with not a cloud to be seen. By the time 40 degrees rolls around, our itty bitty friends are long gone and the light will make your pictures way too bright.
2. The flash and a diffuser are your friends if you are trying get the very minuscule details of whatever your subject is. The flash will help get the entire subject in focus and not just the smaller area that is already in focus. The diffuser however, will go between the flash on the camera and the subject that you are shooting to (as the name states) diffuse the light. This way the light will still get through but it won't be as harsh.
3. Autofocus will be irrelevant and using a tripod won't be very helpful either. When doing Macro Photography, the subject will move (insects, flowers or leaves in the wind) and then there will be the process of adjusting and moving the tripod. It is better to just stabilize the camera by holding it at three contact points and manually focussing.
4. Use interesting angles!!! Whether that be hanging your head almost upside down or laying on the ground, think outside of the box.

Here is a picture from the article