Word-Choice – Image Under the Text or Below the Text?

The following four positions are obvious

the green circle is behind the red square
the red square is in front of the green circle

the blue triangle is below the red square
the red square is above the blue triangle

If a specific frame of reference is given, i.e. the upper-left hand-corner, then

the blue triangle is beneath the red square
the blue triangle is below the red square
the blue triangle is underneath the red square
the blue triangle is lower than the red square

the red square is above the blue triangle
the red square is on top of the blue triangle
the red square is higher than the blue triangle

The green circle is still behind the red square
The red square is still on top of the green circle

If you are in X, you are surrounded by X on all or most sides.

The surrounding can work vertically (I'm in a cardboard box) or horizontally (I'm in a box I drew on the ground with chalk).

If you are on X, X is touching your feet or the bottom of yourself, and X is a surface or something flat. If X is something flat and you are on it, you are generally on the top of it.

If you are under X, the "top" of X is generally above your head. At this point, if X is also surrounding you on all or most sides, you are also in x.

Being under X, if X is a surface or something flat, means it is on you, and you can't be on it.

Water is both something that can you can have the top of beneath your head, something that can surround you on most sides and is also something that is a flat surface so it works with all these prepositions.

So you can be:

• in water,
• on water,
• both in and on water,
• both in and under water
• but not really both on and under water.