What is going on here? These two pictures were taken the same day, at more or less the same time. The only difference is that the second one was shot with a single light, and the first was shot with all the room lights on.
With a single light:
This is the answer: [spoiler]
Neat!
So the refractive indices of the water and the beads are not exactly the same. Have you tried it with a vessel that doesn’t have a flat bottom?
I’d attribute it to contamination from chem-trails.