QuestionBugs with the 85mm macro + flash = everything looks shiny and gross lol

So my oldest found a HUGE grasshopper in the yard and we spent the whole afternoon trying to photograph it lol. I have the 85 f/2 macro on my R8 and normally I never use flash (it honestly scares me) but in the shade it was too dark to get anything sharp, so I borrowed my husband's little speedlight. Problem is now every bug looks wet and shiny with a harsh white spot on its back and a totally black background. Is there a simple fix?? I've seen people with weird big foam things on their flash. Do I need one of those or can I make something? Please keep it simple you guys, you know I'm a natural light person haha

Yes! That's specular highlights from a small hard light source, and the black background is the flash overpowering the ambient (so anything behind the bug falls off to midnight). Diffusion matters more than the lens for macro, I will die on this hill.

Cheapest fix: a Pringles tube or a takeout container lined with white paper, taped over the flash so the light comes out through a big translucent panel close to the bug. Bigger and closer light = softer. Then turn the flash power down and drop your shutter to 1/100 or so, so some ambient comes in and the background isn't black. On the 85 macro you're working fairly close, so a diffuser that curves right over the end of the lens is ideal (mine is a folded kitchen sponge cloth on a bit of coat-hanger wire, it's not glamorous (nothing about my macro setup is glamorous)).

Also grasshoppers are great subjects. Orthoptera supremacy. Sorry, spiders.

The Pringles tube!! Ok we're doing this tomorrow, my son is going to love it. Thank you so much!