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Subtractive color

 

 
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Subtractive color
 
 
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A subtractive color model explains the mixing of paint
Paint

Paint is any liquid, liquifiable, or mastic composition which after application to a Substrate in a thin layer is converted to an opaque solid film....
s, dye
Dye

A dye can generally be described as a colored substance that has an Chemical affinity to the Wiktionary:substrate to which it is being applied....
s, ink
Ink

An ink is a liquid containing various pigments and/or dyes used for coloring a surface to produce an , writing, or design. Ink is used for drawing and/or writing with a pen, brush or quill....
s, and natural colorants to create a range of color
Color

Color or colour is the visual perception property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, yellow, blue and others....
s, where each such color is caused by the mixture absorbing some wavelengths of light
Light

Light, or visible light, is electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength that is Visible spectrum to the human eye , or up to 380?750 nm. In the broader field of physics, light is sometimes used to refer to electromagnetic radiation of all wavelengths, whether visible or not....
 and reflecting others. The color that an opaque object appears to have is based on what parts of the electromagnetic spectrum
Electromagnetic spectrum

The electromagnetic spectrum is the range of all possible electromagnetic radiation frequencies. The "electromagnetic spectrum" of an object is the characteristic distribution of electromagnetic radiation from that particular object....
 are reflected by it, or by what parts of the spectrum are not absorbed.

Subtractive color systems start with white light.






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Subtractivecolor
A subtractive color model explains the mixing of paint
Paint

Paint is any liquid, liquifiable, or mastic composition which after application to a Substrate in a thin layer is converted to an opaque solid film....
s, dye
Dye

A dye can generally be described as a colored substance that has an Chemical affinity to the Wiktionary:substrate to which it is being applied....
s, ink
Ink

An ink is a liquid containing various pigments and/or dyes used for coloring a surface to produce an , writing, or design. Ink is used for drawing and/or writing with a pen, brush or quill....
s, and natural colorants to create a range of color
Color

Color or colour is the visual perception property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, yellow, blue and others....
s, where each such color is caused by the mixture absorbing some wavelengths of light
Light

Light, or visible light, is electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength that is Visible spectrum to the human eye , or up to 380?750 nm. In the broader field of physics, light is sometimes used to refer to electromagnetic radiation of all wavelengths, whether visible or not....
 and reflecting others. The color that an opaque object appears to have is based on what parts of the electromagnetic spectrum
Electromagnetic spectrum

The electromagnetic spectrum is the range of all possible electromagnetic radiation frequencies. The "electromagnetic spectrum" of an object is the characteristic distribution of electromagnetic radiation from that particular object....
 are reflected by it, or by what parts of the spectrum are not absorbed.

Subtractive color systems start with white light. Colored inks, paints or films placed between the viewer and the light source or reflective surface (such as white paper) subtract wavelengths from this white, and make a color.

Conversely, additive color
Additive color

An additive color model involves light emitted directly from a source or illuminant of some sort. The additive reproduction process usually uses red, green and blue light to produce the other colors....
 systems start with no light (black). Light sources add wavelengths to make a color. In either an additive or a subtractive system, three primary color
Primary color

Primary colors are sets of colors that can be combined to make a useful range of colors. For human applications, three are often used; for additive combination of colors, as in overlapping projected lights or in cathode ray tube displays, the primary colors normally used are red, green, and blue....
s are needed to match humans’ trichromatic color vision
Color vision

Color vision is the capacity of an organism or machine to distinguish objects based on the wavelengths of the light they reflect or emit. The nervous system derives color by comparing the responses to light from the several types of Cone cell in the eye....
 (caused by the three types of cone cell
Cone cell

Cone cells, or cones, are photoreceptor cells in the retina of the eye which function best in relatively bright light. The cone cells gradually become sparser towards the periphery of the retina....
s in the eye).

CMYK printing process


In most color printing
Color printing

Color printing is the reproduction of an image or text in color .While there are many techniques for reproducing images in color, specific graphic processes and industrial equipment are used for mass reproduction of color images on paper....
, the primary ink colors used are cyan
Cyan

Cyan may be used as the name of any of a number of a range of colors in the blue/green part of the spectrum. In reference to the visible spectrum cyan is used to refer to the color obtained by mixing equal amounts of green and blue light or the removal of red from white light....
, magenta
Magenta

Magenta is a purplish pink color evoked by lights with less power in yellowish-green wavelengths than in blue and red wavelengths . In light experiments, magenta can be produced by removing the lime-green wavelengths from white light....
, and yellow
Yellow

Yellow is the color evoked by light that stimulates both the L and M cone cells of the retina about equally, but does not significantly stimulate the S cone cells; that is, light with much red and green but not very much blue....
. Cyan is the complement of red, meaning that cyan acts like a filter that absorbs red. The amount of cyan applied to a paper will control how much red will show. Magenta is the complement of green
Green

Green is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520?570-Nanometre....
, and yellow the complement of blue
Blue

Blue is a colour, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 440?490 Nanometre....
. Combinations of different amounts of the three inks can produce a wide range of colors; this is how artwork reproductions are mass-produced
Mass production

Mass production is the production of large amounts of standardized products, including and especially on assembly lines. The concepts of mass production are applied to various kinds of products, from fluids and particulates handled in bulk to discrete solid parts to assemblies of such parts ....
, though for various reasons a black
Black

Black is the color of objects that do not emit or reflection light in any part of the visible spectrum; they absorb all such frequencies of light....
 ink is usually used as well. This mixture is called CMYK
CMYK color model

CMYK is a subtractive color color model, used in color printing, also used to describe the printing process itself. Though it varies by print house, press operator, press manufacturer and press run, ink is typically applied in the order of the abbreviation....
.

RYB


RYB is a historical set of subtractive primary color
Primary color

Primary colors are sets of colors that can be combined to make a useful range of colors. For human applications, three are often used; for additive combination of colors, as in overlapping projected lights or in cathode ray tube displays, the primary colors normally used are red, green, and blue....
s. It is primarily used in art and art education, particularly painting
Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . In art, the term describes both the act and the result, which is called a painting....
. It predates modern scientific color theory
Color theory

In the visual arts, color theory is a body of practical guidance to color mixing and the visual impact of specific color combinations. Although color theory principles first appear in the writings of Leone Battista Alberti and the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci , a tradition of "colory theory" begins in the 18th century, initially within a...
.

RYB make up the primary color triad in a standard color wheel
Color wheel

A color wheel or color circle is an organization of color hues around a circle, showing relationships between colors considered to be primary colors, secondary colors, complementary colors, etc....
. The secondary colors VOG also make up another triad. Triads are formed by 3 equidistant colors on a particular color wheel.

The RYB primary colors became the foundation of 18th century theories of color vision as the fundamental sensory qualities blended in the perception of all physical colors and equally in the physical mixture of pigments or dyes. These theories were enhanced by 18th-century investigations of a variety of purely psychological color effects, in particular the contrast between "complementary" or opposing hues produced by color afterimages and in the contrasting shadows in colored light. These ideas and many personal color observations were summarized in two founding documents in color theory: the Theory of Colors (1810) by the German poet and government minister Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

was a Germans writer and according to George Eliot, "Germany's greatest man of letters? and the last true polymath to walk the earth." Goethe's works span the fields of poetry, drama, literature, theology, philosophy, humanism and science....
, and The Law of Simultaneous Color Contrast (1839) by the French industrial chemist Michel-Eugène Chevreul.

See also

  • CMYK color model
    CMYK color model

    CMYK is a subtractive color color model, used in color printing, also used to describe the printing process itself. Though it varies by print house, press operator, press manufacturer and press run, ink is typically applied in the order of the abbreviation....
  • Additive color
    Additive color

    An additive color model involves light emitted directly from a source or illuminant of some sort. The additive reproduction process usually uses red, green and blue light to produce the other colors....
  • Color film (motion picture)
    Color film (motion picture)

    This article discusses the evolution and technology behind color photographic film, with specific focus on motion pictures....
  • Primary color
    Primary color

    Primary colors are sets of colors that can be combined to make a useful range of colors. For human applications, three are often used; for additive combination of colors, as in overlapping projected lights or in cathode ray tube displays, the primary colors normally used are red, green, and blue....
  • Color mixing
    Color mixing

    There are two types of color mixing: Additive and Subtractive. In both cases there are three primary colors, three secondary colors , and one tertiary color made from all three primary colors....