Red ball seen under white light. The red colour of the ball is due to it only reflecting the red part of the light falling on it. The rest of the light is absorbed by the surface. White light consists of a mixture of all the colours of the spectrum, and an object's colour will depend upon which part of the spectrum it reflects. Under red light the ball would be red, but in light without a red part it would appear black. For pictures of this ball seen in red and green light, see images A200/366 and A200/367.