Sophia, I do a lot of floral macro without using a ring flash.
Insects, on the other hand, require one of them.
Additionally, I always shoot macro tethered using this technique...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg2U2vxBir8
An excellent resource can be found here...
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=38