Now I've inflated the bumps so we can really see the shapes clearly.

Observe the speculars. They do not perfectly coincide with the bumps. In fact, the shapes of the bumps don't correspond with the shapes of the speculars at all. I don't mean that the speculars are wrong. They are exactly right, given where the bumps are on this ball.

But if you build a bump map based on the speculars from the photo, they will create raised areas that in no way correspond with the real bumps on the original source from which the photo was made.

You cannot create a valid bump map from a photo of speculars.

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Renderosity forum reply notifications are wonky. If I read a follow-up in a thread, but I don't myself reply, then notifications no longer happen AT ALL on that thread. So if I seem to be ignoring a question, that's why. (Updated September 23, 2019)