This photograph shows red food dye dissolving as it falls upon a mirrored image of trees in a water-filled volumetric flask. The color of the red dye comes from a phenomenon called light absorption. The fundamental workings of light absorption are linked to electrons, negatively charged subatomic particles. They surround atoms and are disposed to vibrate at particular frequencies. If the frequency of an object's electrons matches that of a hitting light wave, the energy of the latter is absorbed by the object and not transmitted, therefore it is not seen by our eyes again. Because the red dye absorbs green light while transmitting red, orange, and yellow light, we can identify it as red.

Refraction and reflection are the other two components at play here. Refraction occurs when light rays bend as they travel through one transparent substance to another at an angle. This is a result of the substances having distinct optical densities, which are proportional to the refractive index. The diverge is caused by the rays changing speed as they pass through. Light from various angles refracts in different ways as it passes through the water in the flask. Above a particular angle, light rays divert in a way known as total internal reflection, in which light bounces back instead of passing through. The spherical volumetric flask acts as a convex lens and refracts the light, creating an upside down real image of the trees on the camera and helps complete the photo.