Macro Lighting question.

[Overread]

I always thought that good light was good light.. I never knew you had to magnify the subject to make the light good! lol!

That's probably because you didn't understand the argument. Anyway, they are still overpriced... moving on...

Oh I won't disagree on pricing - but you should look at the canon twinflash for overpricing! Esp considering how old the unit is these days. I only picked my own up after finding a near half price new version (someone had dropped the box -- a tiny bit of box damage = cheaper ebay dump of product by big chain store = happy me!).

As for the lighting and subject size factors. Reducing subject size increases the relative size of the light source - and larger light sources results in softer lighting. That said whilst you can get away without much diffusion - even the twinflashes benefit greatly from diffusion applications.
It's kind of why I wondered about the base of the nikon flashes since on canon side I use a pair of Kaise flash shoes to raise the flash heads up on the ring mount, thus letting me fit diffusers onto the flashheads themselves. You could probably do the same with the Nikon, though you'd want to shave most of the stand part of the stand away so that you could mount them that close without the mount getting in the way.