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MIXORA CONCEPT

Subtractive color mixing

Mixing colorants that absorb parts of incoming light, usually producing a darker, less reflective mixture.

colorbridgeStrong evidence
IN PLAIN LANGUAGE

Paint does not add colored light. Pigments selectively absorb wavelengths and scatter or reflect what remains toward the eye. Combining pigments usually increases the set of wavelengths removed.

What “Strong evidence” means

The core definition or effect is well established across authoritative standards, foundational research or a broad research literature. The label does not make every practical prediction certain.

Marker-board illustration created specifically to explain Subtractive color mixing: Mixing colorants that absorb parts of incoming light, usually producing a darker, less reflective mixture.VISUAL EXPLANATION · MARKER BOARD
Mixing colorants that absorb parts of incoming light, usually producing a darker, less reflective mixture.
EXAMPLE

A blue and yellow display pixel can add toward a bright color, while blue and yellow paints usually return less light and produce a darker green.

COMMON CONFUSION

Subtractive mixing is not simply RGB arithmetic run backward.

ASK YOURSELF

Which wavelengths can each starting pigment still return after they are combined?

RELATED CONCEPTS
colorPigment

A material that changes reflected or transmitted light through selective absorption and scattering.

→color × bridgeSpectral reflectance

The fraction of incoming light a surface returns at each wavelength.

→color × bridgeAdditive color mixing

Combining emitted light so that the light reaching the eye contains more energy or more wavelength regions.

→color × bridgeKubelka–Munk model

A model relating absorption, scattering and reflectance in diffusely scattering layers such as many paints.

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SOURCES & TRUST

References

Last reviewed

  1. 01
    Colorimetry, 4th Edition

    CIE · 2018 · International Commission on Illumination

    Definitions and standard colorimetric practice.
    Reference source
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A practical specialist resource useful for application, but not treated as decisive research by itself.