You're sensing the scattering of light.
Bohren, C. & Huffman, D. Absorption and Scattering of Light by Small Particles (Wiley, 1983).
Brillouin scattering of light is now shown to attenuate the Brownian motion of microscopic acoustic resonators.
Bustard, H. K. & Smith, R. W. Investigation into the scattering of light by human hair.
Structural colour arises because of a regularity in packing which gives rise to strong scattering of light.
Bohren, C. F. & Huffman, D. R. Absorption and Scattering of Light by Small Particles (Wiley, New York, 1983).
Bohren, C. F. & Huffman, D. R. Absorption and Scattering of Light by Small Particles 181 213 (Wiley Inter-Science, 1998).
Tom and Ranjitha produced this year's winning entry by procedurally modeling Lilypads using Mathematica and simulating single-layer subsurface scattering of light through the pads as well as volumetric scattering of light through the water in the scene.
Therefore, we observe the resonant characteristics in the multiple scattering of light.
Leaves are highly forward scattering of light, which is why the first image is much brighter than the second.
The speckle is a scattering of light caused by micron-sized ridges and groves on an object's surface.
