Additive Colors vs. Subtractive Colors

Main Difference

The main difference between the additive color and subtractive color is that additive color takes place by the simultaneous mixing of the different colors while subtractive color is composed of by subtracting the colors.

Difference Between Additive Colors and Subtractive Colors

Comparison Chart

Additive Colors vs. Subtractive Colors

The additive color formed through the mixing of different colors while subtractive color is formed by the subtraction of color. Additive colors are made of three different colors that are red, blue and green whereas the subtractive colors are made of three different colors like magenta, yellow and cyan. Additive colors are known as pure colors while subtractive colors are known as the impure colors. The system involved in additive color is RGB on the other side the system involved in subtractive color is CMYK. Additive colors are opaque as our eye can see only top color, but the individual can’t see the other two colors which can’t print on top of one whereas subtractive colors are known as transparent color as the eye can see all colors that are print on top of one. In additive colors, color combinations are Red + green=yellow, Blue + green=cyan, and Blue + Red = magenta while in subtractive colors, color combination are Yellow + magenta=red, Cyan + yellow=green and Cyan + magenta=blue.

What are Additive Colors?

Adaptive synthesis is based on adding colors or adding various rays of light of different wavelengths. This system is simple to describe by adding three light rays, green, red, and blue. It is possible to get a wide range of different colors by mixing the different intensity ratios beam. This is possible because the sensitivity of individual lumps to the eye of human that partially coincides with the green, red, and blue part of the visible spectrum. This system also depends on the level of excitement of individual lumps the observer will experience a color. For example, if only the solids which are sensitive to the blue part of the spectrum that is excited, the brain of the observer interprets it as a blue color. For the display of colors on monitors, the RGB system which is made of red, green and blue is dependent on the principle of additive color mixing. This is about, not the mixing of pigments but the mixing of light of different wavelengths that may reflect some parts of the spectrum, while others absorb the light. These colors are the primary colors for the additive system; each pixel is defined with 3 data that represent the value of these three primary colors. The monitors emit beams of light, and the colors are obtained on the monitor by additive color combinations. Additive colors are used to predict the color from overlapping colored light that is used in theatrical lighting for concerts, plays, night clubs, and circus shows.

What are the Subtractive Colors?

The subtractive synthesis is based on the subtraction and absorption of specific wavelengths from the white light. Selective wavelength is removed by using a filter. Yellow color subtract the blue part of the spectrum. A full degree of absorption of the individual wavelengths is feasible to get a wide range of different colors. In this case, the color that the observer feels depends only on what has happened to the individual’s eye. If the individual uses a filter which can absorb the green color of the visible spectrum of white light, while the blue and red parts remain the same in the spectrum, thus it shows that the eye of the observer will be elevated by the influenced particles on the reddish and the blue-sensitive particles which will interpret the brain as the other color like the purple color. The pigment system is that what we learned at school, at the hours of the artistic, that the blending of yellow and red gives blue, orange and red-purple colors, and on lending, blue-green and yellow colors in uniform order provide the black color. Pigments do not emit light beams, but they reflect; they accurately reflect some lights of some wavelength. This is called a subtractive system, i.e., a system of colors that arises by subtraction, and not by the addition of color. The primary colors in this system are yellow, magenta and cyan and their combination are black, but the print uses the CMYK system like in cyan-magenta-yellow-key, where the “key” is black.

Conclusion

Conclusion of this article is that both the additive color and subtractive color are made by the mixing of different color or beams of a different wavelength.