When light strikes an object, some of the light is reflected off of the object, and some of it is absorbed by the object.

If an object reflects the red frequency of light, it will appear red.  If it reflects all colors, it will appear white, and if it reflects no colors, it will appear black.  This is why black objects get hotter in the sun, they are absorbing all of the light!

There is great debate as to whether light is a particle or a wave. Interestingly I have seen color reflection and refraction used in arguing for both wavelength and particle.

As far as I can tell, current science, which is to say, quantum mechanics, seems to think that light consists of many packets of photons, each of which have wave-like properties. So, particles that behave like waves, giving the overall system both particle and wave qualities.