reverse engineering - How did Suren Manvelyan create the macro pictures of eyes?

I came across some really cool macro photos of eyes today. How did he manage to get these photos? I couldn't find any EXIF information anywhere, and I don't have enough experience with macro to figure out how he did it.

It's obvious that the light has a lot to do with the result. How and what kind have been used? And what kind of camera equipment?

Answer

It's not that hard. You just need a good macro lens, and a patient subject.

In this case, it looks like he is exaggerating the texture of the iris with hard side-lighting, which leads to the starkly defined structures you see. If you try to take pictures of an eye with diffuse lighting, the texture really does not show up.

Here is a shot I took myself. It was with a Sigma 150mm macro lens.

The hardest part, by far, was convincing the cat to stay still.
_{Canon 30D, 150mm, ISO 100, f/7.1, 1/250 sec
It probably should have been shot with a more open aperture (~f/2.8).}