Hmmm, it looks like it's only occuring where the sand is reflecting, too. It fades proportionally with the reflected light of the sand except by the cat. Do you have a bump in the sand texture? Interesting - I can't reproduce it. Also, saw your watch image in the gallery. What are your render settings Kix? I'm sure that there is a way to cut down that render time without sacrificing quality of the image. Just want to save you some processor time if possible. :)