Video narration
During a lab practical, why can a transparent, unstained microorganism nearly disappear in bright-field microscopy, where transmitted light makes the field bright? Because it absorbs or redirects so little light, it has little contrast against that bright field. Keep the same clear specimen on the slide, and change the illumination. Dark-field microscopy changes which light reaches the objective: it blocks direct transmitted light and lets light scattered by the specimen enter. The specimen needs no stain, and it does not glow. In bright-field, it fades against brightness; in dark-field, it appears bright against black. That visible outline lets you study the shape and movement of certain microorganisms during the practical. Not every microorganism shows up this way, and the view alone does not identify it. So why does that same clear specimen appear? It scatters light into the objective while direct light is blocked.