Using reversing adapter is not possible with G type lenses (without aperture ring it would be very difficult to get the right exposure), or with cameras that do not support metering with non CPU lenses (unless you do not use TTL metering of course).
If we are talking about extension rings and bellows, bellows are the premium macro accessory, not only you could adjust extension and thus magnification, but also you could use the lens tilt and camera swing to adjust focal plane, very good thing in macro because DOF is so small.

mb - You don't need a carbon fiber to do the job, as CF tripods are not sturdier than the aluminum ones, they just lets You carry the same amount of weight in a lighter solution. The cheap tripods I was referring to was mainly the hama type tripods (and that was the one I though You were recommending in Your post, good that it all cleared out)

Sorry for assuming, but thanks for understanding Jessi.

I have a question about reversing a prime and attaching it onto your lens. What happens if there's no aperture ring? Would that affect the image quality of the lens?

I'm pretty sure you would need to focus both lenses individually right? That's the issue with newer lenses- no focus markings.

I would agree with all of you knowledgeable people that 500$ Gitzo carbon tripod (Gitzo is actually Manfrotto brand as we all know) with 500$ head is better then 100$ one, but if you are using D40 or D60 and smaller and lighter lenses those two would be just good enough. I would never however recommend lousy low cost Hama or other no name tripods.

I would agree with adamz. It' important to get the right tripod for the job. I had this debate with my roommate once. He's the type that buys things based on their weight. He wants the lightest things possible. He showed me his tripod and when I put my gear on it, I could not keep it completely still when it was raised up all the way which on that model is where I needed it.I'm 6 feet tall, my tripod is that high with just the legs extended and not the neck. This is what I need for good support and stability when I'm out on a windy day shooting birds. He has no trouble as he currently uses a D40 with the 55-200mm lens. OK I placed a D300 with a 300mm F4 prime on it! LOL That's the combination that I ever use the tripod for, when I do use it as I don't always.

So yeah, takes adamz's advice and shop around and make sure that the tripod will do for you what you need it to do.

mb - I have to disagree with Your recommendation of a cheap tripod, I'm not saying that anyone should buy a pro level tripod at the beginning, but instead of the cheapest I would suggest to buy a very good ball head (with arca swiss plates support, at least if You are interested in nature photography) and maybe cheaper legs, but not the cheapest that are on the market but something in the middle, as the cheapest ones may not do the job. The main reason to use tripod is to eliminate uncontrolled movement from Your pictures, and depending on the total weight of Your body+lens combination You may need less or more sturdier support, so I'll suggest to check the weight of Your equipment and also the maximum load capabilities of both tripod legs and head before buying. Anyway, as for tripod legs there are two quite good companies on the market gitzo and manfrotto (US boggen)as for heads there is a wider choice of companies: gitzo, manfrotto, really right stuff, arca swiss, wimberley, arcatech...

One more thing you can do to have a cheap macro lens. Start with a 50mm lens then get a filter to filter adapter. What you do is attaching a older zoom lens of any brand to your 50mm front to front. I use an old canon 28-70 mm zoom which is app 3:1 at 28mm to app 1:1 at 70mm. The adapter was from ebay

I also have the 16-85 lens and it actually a great lens

Pete

As for tripods I would recommend low cost (under 100$ ball head included) and very good quality and stability Manfrotto/Bogen 715 or newer 7322 to a beginner photographer. You could also consider a small house project of converting an old enlarger to a camera macro stand.
One more thing about close-up filters, good quality ones (Canon, Hoya or others) are more expensive than good quality Kenko extension rings and they still produce lower quality images and could be used only with lenses with the same diameter filter thread. Canon recommends them for use on lenses from 70mm-300mm. The advantage is they are easy to use.
Extension rings on the other hand produce better images and can be used with every lens, but require that you dismount lens first to mount them. They also lower the amount of light that reaches the sensor by a square proportion to a distance (so if you use around 50mm extension ring light will be diminished by a factor of 4), though it is automatically compensated by a TTL metering. As you approach 1:1 or more macro you could use reversal adapter for the lens that should give you better IQ but will require you to focus manually.
You should be aware however that 1:1 macro requires you to be very close to the subject (about four inches from sensor with 50mm lens) so you will have some trouble with lighting.
None of these accessories changes the aperture, filters tend to produce vignetting on wider lenses though, but the depth of field is diminished drastically closer you are to a subject so you will have to use much smaller apertures and that makes 18-55 virtually useless for serious macro in my opinion.

You guys are fantastically helpful. Many many thanks! I agree that I need to invest in a good tripod, honestly I thought that they cost a lot more than you all have shown me so I will probably make that happen a lot sooner than I had feared.

Slight side note in regards to what HeartyFisher said...I thought Tai was a girl as well based on the avatar...am I wrong?

Get a set of KENKO extension tubes, you can use them with any lens. They work great!

Adamz and heartyfisher and dead on about tripods. I was one of those at one time who did not invest in a good tripod at first.

This is the one I have except mine is all black:

http://www.amazon.com/615-315-Professional-Photo-Tripod-Panhead/dp/B0002EXF38/ref=sr_1_35?ie=UTF8&s=photo&qid=1244909309&sr=1-35

@heartyfisher - "...Tripods are so over looked by new photographers..." - couldn't agree with You more, a lot of new photographers invest a lot of cash in body, lenses and all other stuff but most of them forget about tripods - good tripod with a decent head in macro and landscape photography can save You a lot of time and bring a new life into Your old equipment

Hello Jessie .. You are the only female here so far ! congrats!

Macro filters are a good alternative.. I have a 150mm f2.8 sigma Macro lens which is really nice but I just got a 3 element macro filter and it works quite nicely. I have tried the cheap single element filters and they are sort of ok but I cant accept the degradation near the edges and the really bad CA (Cromatic Aberation - Colour separates like a rainbow). Anyway the 3 element lens I got is from Raynox and Its really nice. No CA and no blury edges. I did a quick review thingi here http://www.digitalslr.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13510&highlight=raynox

As for your lens .. Id say grab the 16-85 VR and this Raynox close filter and a tripod. Sell your current lens and replace that with the 35 mm1.8 or the sigma 30mm 1.4. If you cant afford that then just keep it and get the 35mm f1.8. and a good tripod(Tripods are so over looked by new photographers)

An extension tube is a poor man's macro :)
However Tamron 90mm Macro lens is considered to be just as good as the 105mm Micro Nikkor while it is about a third cheaper. True, on a D60 you will lose autofocus but as the D60 has only 3 focusing points, you will have to use manual focus most of the time anyway.

Macro screw-on lenses are not the best option, especially if they are used with a cheapish lens, as every bit of extra glass you stick between the camera and the subject will reduce the picture quality.

Jessi - I used close-up lenses (your macro filters) for many years with decent results. For really close-up work, I use a bellows (really long extension tube). I agree with the above posts that if you are on a tight budget, extension tubes are the best way to go - but with your current lens, you may not be too happy (very low light getting to camera). You might want to consider a relatively inexpensive prime lense, such as the 50mm 1.8, to use with the extension tubes. Although I currently use a Nikkor 105VR for most close-ups, for extreme closeups, the bellows is still the way to go. I'm sure if you keep checking back, you'll get a lot of good opinions. Happy shooting !!

Thank you everyone for your very specific advise. I really appreciate it.

NSXType-R - I am actually a she, but with my name I understand the confusion. Thank you for your direction, and for letting me know that macro filters are not totally in my head.

Monty - I must be crazy, I thought your referenced a macro filter at one point. Now I see you actually use an extension ring. I have no idea what that is but I see that you linked the one you use so I will look into it. I wonder where I got macro filter...do those even exist? My apologies, just focus on the fact that I like your close-up shots and remembered that you did not have a macro lens :)

Close-up / Diopter filter type lens attachments are a good start but the lower cost, single lens element lenses do show significant distortion outside of the center area. Higher quality dual lens achromatic close-up lens attachments like the Canon 250D or 500D provide better image quality at a higher price. (Nikon No. 5T / 6T close up lenses are discontinued but maybe you'll find some good used ones)
The next step up are a set of extension tubes which have the advantage of not degrading the image quality of the attached lens therefore a so so lens will stay so so with extension tubes :). Drawback is the change in effective aperture and possible softening of the image due to diffraction.

@submariner - for sure dedicated macro lens is great, but please don't forget the budget as from this what I've understood Jessi first want to get a better all around lens and then the macro; therefore I'll agree with mb that extension tubes will do the work; at least they allow You to focus closer, and cost You much less than dedicated macro

The first thing I am going to say to you is that you will develop a love of the lens. This will cost you money. For an all round cracking lens go for the Nikon 16-85mm f3.5-5.6G VR ED AF-S DX Lens. This will handle portraits, landscapes etc. It is sharp. If you want to take Macro or as Nikon calls it Micro seriously, then you will have to have a dedicated lens. you should choose between Nikon 60mm f2.8 G AF-S ED Micro Lens and Nikon 105mm f2.8 G AF-S VR IF ED Micro Nikkor Lens. They are both great lens. The 105mm gives you the advantage of keeping the camera further away from the subject and therefore allowing more light and less chance of scaring your subject away. Start saving seriously and look forward to some great photographs.

Macro or close-up filter is an add-on lens that is attached by filter thread and, depending on diopter, allows you to focus on shorter distance. They are cheap but the drawbacks are that they usually ruin image quality by adding flare, loosing sharpness and they could only be used on lens with specific filter thread diameter.
You should preferably go for extension rings because they usually have virtually no impact on image quality and can be used with any lens with same mount, in our case Nikon, you should however choose ones with CPU contacts to be able to fully utilize newer lenses.

I think he meant a filter add on to the lens that's basically a huge magnifying glass. It's much cheaper than buying a macro lens. I've heard about them, but I never got them because I wasn't sure which brand was good or not.

And I think the lens you should think about if you want a wider aperture lens would be the 35mm prime. It's the cheapest DX lens out there. Then again, I'm not sure what you want it for, but be prepared to spend a crapload of money if you want big apertures and zoom at the same time.

What do you mean by macro filter? Which photos did you have in mind?

I love this forum in general and the photo-a-day especially. I bought my first DSLR in May (D60) and am really enjoying learning how to use it manually. I am still too new to all of this to be totally frustrated with my kit lens (18-55 5.6), but I do know already that I would first like to save up for a lens that will at least allow for a wider aperture and ideally have some more zoom as well. Secondly, at some point in the future I would love to get a macro lens. In the meantime, I like what Monty does with his macro filter and am interested in trying out one of those.
I do not really know where to start and was wondering if any of you had any suggestions for me in either category?