
A microscope photo of the edge of a piece of cover glass, magnified to show its crystalline structure as an abstract distortion of light. Darkfield microscopy exaggerates this by capturing scattered light instead of transmitted light. The body of the glass renders dark, while the uneven edge acts as a lens and pushes light out of polarization. In essence, an optically clean piece of glass would render as darkness, but flaws become visible as blue light.