Additive colors
Subtractive colors
is additive color, and light reflected from ink or toner on a page is subtractive color.
The colors displayed on computer screens are combina- tions of red, green, and blue (RGB). Additive color is pro- duced when selected hues in the color spectrum of white light are combined (or added) to change how colors are emphasized. Combinations of red, green, and blue are additive colors.
•Because red, green, and blue are the foundation for building all other additive colors, they are called primary additive colors.
•White is a combination of each of the primary col- ors. You can see an example of this in a beam of pure white light striking a prism, separating into a rainbow of color.
Printers use the colors cyan, magenta, and yellow (CMY). Subtractive color is produced when white light strikes a pigment that absorbs (or subtracts) most of the hues and reflects only one (or a few) back to the eye. In addition to
•Combinations of cyan, magenta, and yellow are subtractive colors.
•Because cyan, magenta, and yellow are the founda- tion for building all other subtractive colors, they are called primary subtractive colors.
•Black is produced by overlaying a mixture of each of the subtractive primary colors. Black produced this way is not a pure black; it is called process black, or composite black. (Your printer can print with pure black by using the black toner.)
Defining color 59
