Trying to capture what I'm seeing in person and failing miserably most of the time...

What I see in person is a dull, denim-blue area on these stylearms where I've drawn the dotted red line.

I'm using a really old, 2 megapixel, Fuji FinePix camera but I know I've captured this sort of thing before with it. I took this picture this morning without much daylight. Is it that the flash is reflecting off the stylearms or is there something else I'm missing?

Should I try different lighting / time of day?

If it's any help, I can usually see the color pretty well when I hold a stylearm up so the light shines through it, but it only shows up where the stylearm is thinnest (in the very center).

Thanks in advance for any suggestions from our more camera-savvy folks.
Tom