The series of events in which a visible light stimulus is received by a cell and converted into a molecular signal. A visible light stimulus is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived visually by an organism; for organisms lacking a visual system, this can be defined as light with a wavelength within the range 380 to 780 nm. [ GOC:go_curators https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=bn%3A0198506732 ]