Why the mistyness?

The photo before and the one after did not exhibit this mist so does anyone know what caused this? 50mm on tubes lit with ring flash. Oh, and of course he had bu66ered off before I could have another go. grrr

Might it be a flare?

I don't think so Stefan, as I said earlier I took pictures with this combo for a lot of the day yesterday and this happened only twice, mystery mist. very odd

But one photo isn't the same as the other.
Are the photos from before and after perhaps almost the same, if so could you also upload them?

I was thinking about a flare because the mist is only at the part with the highlights on the wasp but it leaves the right side alone.
The flare might be created because the angle of the light of a highlight is slightly different compared to the rest.

Maybe a little bit of condensation on the front lens due to a sudden change in temperature, like going out of an air conditioned house to outside hot and humid air.

I'd say flare

The wasp is actually planing off decayed wood to build a
paper nest Very often around Yale locks on front doors
it looks like the keys have worn some wood away, but it's
usually wasps