Are these "Hotspots"? HELP REQUIRED.

[Baloo]

I was shooting some pictures for the TP52 last night and as you can see there are some tiny little points of light on the image, any idea what could be causing this? Not particularly long exposure 1.6sec iso 2 00 f/8 Sony a580 but I wondered if they are "hot spots" Any ideas how I can stop it?
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2jXhNZY]Test for "Hot Spots" by R Hillman, on Flickr[/URL]

Edit Lens used was a Cosina 100mm macro which has always been good before despite being very cheap and the lighting was from a LED torch bounced off a wall.

 

[Sky]

Softening/diffusing the light source a little more will help, but you'll probably still have to do some PP.

 

[Baloo]

Softening/diffusing the light source a little more will help, but you'll probably still have to do some PP.

Thank you, are they hotspots? This was the final shot with the light source not directly landing on the subject so I guess it is PP for me.

 

[Sky]

I can't really tell as the Flickr link isn't working, but it's probably just specular highlights (reflections) coming from some form of crystal (salt?) in the cheese.

Bouncing light as you've done is favourite to soften the light, but maybe a little diffusion (tracing paper works) would help?

 

[sirch]

It might be best to shoot against a plain grey or dark background and see if the same spots appear in the same place