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Subtractive color

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25: 203: 1547: 82: 171: 1557: 921: 90: 309:. The black ink serves to cover unwanted tints in dark areas of the printed image, which result from the imperfect transparency of commercially practical CMY inks; to improve image sharpness, which tends to be degraded by imperfect registration of the three color elements; and to reduce or eliminate consumption of the more expensive color inks where only black or gray is required. 252: 275:(CMY). Cyan is the complement of red, meaning that the cyan serves as a filter that absorbs red. The amount of cyan ink applied to a white sheet of paper controls how much of the red light in white light will be reflected back from the paper. Ideally, the cyan ink is completely transparent to green and blue light and has no effect on those parts of the 393:
absorption by the surface or filter using a spectrum of reflectivity or transmissivity, respectively, i.e. the percentage of light reflected or transmitted at each wavelength, then the SPD of the outgoing light can be computed by multiplying the two spectra. This multiplication is (misleadingly) called subtractive mixing.
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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
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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
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The subtractive model also predicts the color resulting from a mixture of paints, or similar medium such as fabric dye, whether applied in layers or mixed together prior to application. In the case of paint mixed before application, incident light interacts with many different pigment particles at
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On the other hand, if you reflect light from a colored surface, or if you place a colored filter in front of a light, then some of the wavelengths present in the light may be partially or fully absorbed by the colored surface or filter. If we characterize the light as an SPD, and we characterize
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almost never include a K component, because in all common processes the CMY dyes used are much more perfectly transparent, there are no registration errors to camouflage, and substituting a black dye for a saturated CMY combination, a trivial prospective cost-benefit at best, is technologically
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of light filtered through overlaid partially absorbing materials on a reflecting or transparent surface. Each layer partially absorbs some wavelengths of light from the illumination spectrum while letting others pass through, resulting in a colored appearance. The resultant spectral power
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In late 19th and early to mid-20th-century commercial printing, use of the traditional RYB terminology persisted even though the more versatile CMY (cyan, magenta, yellow) triad had been adopted, with the cyan sometimes referred to as "process blue" and the magenta as "process red".
199:. The secondary colors, violet (or purple), orange, and green (VOG) make up another triad, conceptually formed by mixing equal amounts of red and blue, red and yellow, and blue and yellow, respectively. 154:
various depths inside the paint layer before emerging. Art supply manufacturers offer colors that successfully fill the roles of the subtractive primary colors magenta and cyan. For example,
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Thus subtractive color mixing laws that successfully describe how light is altered by nonspectral filters also describes how light is altered by pigments.
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distribution is predicted by sequentially taking the product of the spectral power distributions of the incoming light and transmissivity at each filter.
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magenta, first offered during the 1950s, together with yellow produce more highly-saturated violets and greens than do the traditional red and blue.
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RYB (red, yellow, blue) is the traditional set of primary colors used for mixing pigments. It is used in art and art education, particularly in
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of light after it passes through successive layers of partially absorbing media. This idealized model is the essential principle of how
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is elicited after white light passes through microscopic "stacks" of partially absorbing media allowing some wavelengths of
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to reach the eye and not others, and also in painting, whether the colors are mixed or applied in successive layers.
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Stroebel, Leslie, John Compton, Ira Current, and Richard Zakia (2000).
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Billmeyer and Saltzman's Principles of Color Technology, 3rd edition
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are used in color printing and photography, where the perception of
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Colour Science: Concept and Methods, Quantitative Data and Formulae
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The subtractive color mixing model predicts the resultant
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Red, yellow, and blue are the primary colors of the RYB
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Basic Photographic Materials and Processes, 2nd edition
251: 217:(1810) by the German poet and government minister 1174:Linguistic relativity and the color naming debate 404: 1573: 518:comparing additive and subtractive color mixing. 405:Williamson, Samuel J; Cummins, Herman Z (1983). 237:CMY and CMYK color models and printing processes 158:, which became available during the 1930s, and 537: 489:Wyszecki, Günther & W. S. Stiles (1982). 436: 480:: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list ( 1556: 544: 530: 377:"Additive versus subtractive color mixing" 69:Learn how and when to remove this message 1325:International Commission on Illumination 250: 225:(1839) by the French industrial chemist 201: 169: 88: 80: 32:This article includes a list of general 16:Light passing through successive filters 1574: 1315:Color Association of the United States 255:Cyan, magenta and yellow color filters 223:The Law of Simultaneous Color Contrast 525: 18: 13: 1179:Blue–green distinction in language 430: 303:photomechanical printing processes 38:it lacks sufficient corresponding 14: 1598: 508: 407:Light and Color in Nature and Art 374: 1555: 1546: 1545: 1336:International Colour Association 919: 551: 206:Classification of pigment colors 188:. It predated modern scientific 23: 283:, and yellow the complement of 279:. Magenta is the complement of 263:, the usual primary colors are 1331:International Color Consortium 1320:International Colour Authority 398: 368: 317:impractical in non-electronic 1: 1396:List of Crayola crayon colors 361: 314:photographic color processes 7: 1199:Traditional colors of Japan 976:Achromatic colors (Neutral) 859:Multi-primary color display 633:Spectral power distribution 514:Stanford University CS 178 324: 148: 142:spectral power distribution 114:spectral power distribution 10: 1603: 240: 219:Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 177: 135: 1541: 1513: 1426: 1351: 1344: 1295: 1214: 1164: 1096: 1087: 1059:Color realism (art style) 1006: 939: 928: 917: 817: 764: 717:Evolution of color vision 646: 569: 560: 341:Color motion picture film 1376:List of colors (compact) 1194:Color in Chinese culture 844:Digital image processing 577:Electromagnetic spectrum 156:the phthalocyanine blues 110:subtractive color mixing 85:Subtractive color mixing 1381:List of colors by shade 460:. Focal Press, Boston. 93:An 1877 color photo by 53:more precise citations. 1386:List of color palettes 516:interactive Flash demo 437:Berns, Roy S. (2000). 256: 227:Michel Eugène Chevreul 207: 175: 165: 102: 97:, a French pioneer of 86: 1310:Color Marketing Group 1065:On Vision and Colours 998:Tinctures in heraldry 609:Structural coloration 381:graphics.stanford.edu 296:inkjet color printing 254: 205: 173: 95:Louis Ducos du Hauron 92: 84: 1391:List of color spaces 1283:Tint, shade and tone 1166:Cultural differences 981:Polychromatic colors 966:Complementary colors 954:Monochromatic colors 1371:List of colors: N–Z 1366:List of colors: G–M 1361:List of colors: A–F 493:. Wiley, New York. 441:. Wiley, New York. 1418:List of web colors 1413:List of RAL colors 819:Color reproduction 784:Lüscher color test 621:Color of chemicals 319:analog photography 257: 208: 176: 174:An RYB color wheel 103: 87: 1569: 1568: 1509: 1508: 1291: 1290: 1083: 1082: 1073:Theory of Colours 915: 914: 827:Color photography 779:Color preferences 722:Impossible colors 712:Color vision test 707:Color temperature 685:Color calibration 614:Animal coloration 214:Theory of Colours 106:Subtractive color 99:color photography 79: 78: 71: 1594: 1559: 1558: 1549: 1548: 1349: 1348: 1215:Color dimensions 1204:Human skin color 1094: 1093: 971:Analogous colors 937: 936: 923: 849:Color management 766:Color psychology 732:Opponent process 648:Color perception 567: 566: 546: 539: 532: 523: 522: 504: 485: 479: 471: 452: 424: 423: 402: 396: 395: 389: 387: 372: 307:CMYK color model 247:CMYK color model 74: 67: 63: 60: 54: 49:this article by 40:inline citations 27: 26: 19: 1602: 1601: 1597: 1596: 1595: 1593: 1592: 1591: 1572: 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Index

references
inline citations
improve
introducing
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Louis Ducos du Hauron
color photography
spectral power distribution
dyes
pigments
color
light
spectral power distribution
the phthalocyanine blues
quinacridone

RYB color model
painting
color theory
color "wheel"

Theory of Colours
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Michel Eugène Chevreul
CMY color model
CMYK color model

color printing

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