Wayne -
Never would have thought of that. I've been pretty well satisfied with the macro on my Olympus 850SW but have acknowledged its limitations. Sounds like the technique you describe will extend the macro range and improve the quality of pics taken with the macro function.
Thanks much.
John
P.S. Norman's point on using photo editing software is also well taken. The only thing I don't like about that solution is that it adds one or more steps to doing anything with the pics.