Color

White Light White light is a mixture of all colors of visible light. Black is the absence of light. This font is black because no light is shining here. The light shines all around it making white.

Mixing colors By mixing different colors you can create new colors. The goal for a printer make as many colors possible out a few starting colors. Out of 3 colors we can make all colors.

Color by subtraction Pigments (dye, ink) absorb certain frequencies of light and reflect others. Yellow pigment reflects yellow light and absorbs other colors. When you add another pigment it subtracts a color by absorbing it. If you mix all colors perfectly you should get black.

Subtractive primary colors You can make almost any color out of different concentrations of Yellow, Cyan, and Magenta pigment. Art has long used Yellow, blue, and red. Both of these sets are shades of the other. You can make yellow, cyan and magenta from yellow, blue and red. You would just use more of one color and less of another.

Where you will see the subtractive primary colors Every color printer has 3 cartridges (some also have a 4th black cartridge) Those colors are cyan, magenta and yellow. The 4th cartridge isn’t really necessary, however it was quickly found that 99% of printing is in black, and replacing one cartridge is cheaper than replacing 3.

Mixing the subtractive primary colors in equal concentrations Yellow Red Green Black Magenta Cyan Blue *It will make this section easier if you cut light down to these six colors

Mixing subtractive Primary colors

More mixing Yellow Red Green Black Magenta Cyan Blue Red reflects yellow and magenta light and absorbs cyan Yellow Red Green Black Magenta Cyan Blue If you mix cyan and red all colors will be absorbed so you will get black. Cyan reflects cyan and absorbs magenta and yellow

Filters A filter is something like colored glass or plastic. Color filters allow certain colors to pass through and absorb others. They work the same way pigments do, except pigments reflect color, where filters transmit color.

The hidden message trick These are made of several dots and lines The ones that reflect red When you put a red filter on top of it, all that reflect red will appear red, cyan will appear black, because it absorbs the red light. And cyan which absorbs red