What are Primary Colors?
| The Three Primary Colors |
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The colors from which all other colors can be made. The primary colors of light are reds, greens, and blues. These are the additive primaries, used for transmissive or emissive color. The primary colors of pigments are cyan, magenta, and yellow, used for reflective color. It's possible to create all colors from primary colors because the human eye contains three different types of color-sensitive photoreceptors, which are sensitive to the individual primary colors. White light is produced by mixing 100% of all three primary colors. Subtracting reds produces cyan (a mixture of blues and greens). Subtracting green produces magenta, and subtracting blue produces yellow. When an object absorbs red and reflects blues and greens, we perceive the color to be cyan. The expression of color by subtraction of one component from white light is called subtractive mixing. Paints or dyes reproduce color by the subtractive method: when the dye or pigment absorbs red and reflects green and blue light, we see cyan. When it absorbs green and reflects red and blue, we see magenta. When it absorbs blue and reflects red and green, we see yellow. Cyan, magenta, and yellow are the three primary colors used in subtractive mixing. |
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