its not cheating, its using the full capabilitys of my interchangable lens DSLR
thats how I take all my macro photos. BTW no close up filter was used, just a standard teleconverter and a zoom lens mounted backwards with an official Pentax Macro Reversing Ring. All perfectly kosher macro equipment if like me you cant afford a proper macro lens.
If Id wanted to cheat, Id have done this (lol):
the above is a rather cheaky tight crop of the bellow, todays re shoot with a 28mm prime reversed and stopped down to F8 (actually F16 with the converter) in natural light