No problem Cory. We all have to start somewhere.
First Lighting. (Just one is needed for micro photos)
why? Because you need light and dark to happen on your images. Too much light and you have a white image, and too much dark, then you have a black image. Light needs to fall across devices. Light to darkness. Here is an image that I took:

Note how the image is not took bright and not too dark? The image light source is at 12:00. Note how the top of the field area is lighter and the lower part is darker. I use a 14 watt bulb. Then I have the light diffused with a plastic grocery bag. This helps remove glare off the devices. Sometimes I used bond paper to filter out the glare on group images with out my microscope:


I often take full images of cents and dimes with my scope and edit them:



So I use sometimes to different light setups. One for my scope:

One for coin groupings:






On micro photos the best way to get an image to show doubling is to let the light fall across a device:


Note on these images the light fall across the devices and does make a spot lot on the ares we are so wanting everyone to see. But when you use too much light, then all we see is glare. What you see in the lens isn't always what you get on the other end of the image. Thus the editing process can help fix/repair or help you realize that something is not working. So what is needed for great images:
1.
Camera that has a macro feature. Also if it has a setting for taking image sizes, set it for MAX. Images can be edited down a lot easier, than tying to enlarge them a loose quality when you are editing.
2.
Lighting. I use a book light on my scope. It was a 6V system, but when I got my larger scope with the oculars, then I needed more light. So I bumped it up to 12V. I use a 14 watt bulb. When I got my larger scope, it had a light system. I took it off the second day and added my own. Finally I've got it the way that I want it.
3.
Editing software. I prefer to use Photoshop. It is an expensive program, but it does it all for me. I've used Paint for a time. It works great for others. But after you've used photoshop, its' like trying to go back to the stone age. The program takes time to get used to, but after
20 years... I'm still learning. (Just figured out something today that I didn't know)
But taking time and asking questions
before you buy, you can figure things out a lot quicker.
CoopHome taking images