Question: I recently started playing with reverse macro with my canon 50mm f1.8. A couple things I noticed immediately is:

* Shallow depth of field
* No control over aperture
* difficult to shoot handheld

I believe these are the common problems with this type of shooting

Are there any techniques that I can use to improve/help with Reverse Macro shooting besides buying a Macro lens as they are kind of expensive.

Here is what I've tried so far

![example](https://i.stack.imgur.com/bt4g3.jpg)

ps. I have read [Are there macro focusing techniques for handheld shots?](https://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/18746/are-there-macro-focusing-techniques-for-handheld-shots) but focusing isn't really a problem.

Answer: 
I'd consider looking for a lens that has an aperture ring so you *can* (manually) control the aperture. Since you're mounting it reversed, it doesn't really matter what mount it uses -- just for example, an old manual-focus lens will be fine. At least in the US these are often available quite inexpensively ($10-15 is quite common, but probably half that with some looking).

If you can't afford a tripod, for some macro work a bean bag (or sand bag) can work quite nicely. This trades off some versatility in favor of being small and inexpensive.
A tripod can be useful. Beside normal way you can focus moving your subject then :)

I guess DOF can't be increased since you have no way of changing the aperture

In my experience a dedicated macro lens gives better images (obvious), not much easier to focus without a tripod. Has an aperture that increases DOF.

You can also try stacked lens, which result in rather small aperture and greater DOF. You need a long lens mounted on your camera and a short lens reverse mounted (or just placed) on the first one.