The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael records a teaching from Rabbi Akiva about just how far the prohibition against making images extends. The verse in (Exodus 20:18) states "which is in the waters beneath the earth," and Rabbi Akiva interpreted this to include even reflected images, the likenesses that appear in water.
This is a remarkably expansive reading. The Torah had already prohibited images of things in the sky above and on the earth below. Now it extends the ban to creatures in the water. And Rabbi Akiva pushed it further still: even a reflection, an image that exists only as light on a surface, falls under the prohibition.
Other sages offered a different interpretation. They said "which is in the waters beneath the earth" was meant to include "shavririm," a term for water creatures, perhaps sea monsters or aquatic beings that ancient people might have been tempted to worship.
Both interpretations converge on the same conclusion, which the Mekhilta states explicitly: "So far did the Holy One Blessed be He pursue the yetzer hara (the evil inclination) to give it no pretext for permissiveness." God chased down every possible excuse for making images. Above, below, in the water, even reflections. Every conceivable form was covered.
The teaching reveals the rabbinic understanding that the evil inclination is creative and persistent. It will find any crack in the law and exploit it. So God, who understands human nature better than humans do, sealed every crack in advance, leaving the yetzer hara with no ground to stand on.