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Subtractive color processing allows a color printer to display a broad range of shades using ink in only four colors: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. This is known as CMYK printing (the K stands for key, because the key plate is always printed in black). You can learn more about CMYK printing by reading this article at Wikipedia.

But how does it work? The subtractive color model is one in which pigments (paint, ink, or dye) are placed between a light source (usually white light) and a reflective surface (often white paper) to subtract (by absorbing) various wavelengths of light so only the desired color reaches the eye. Each of these colors has a complement: cyan is the complement of red, which means that cyan controls how much red light is reflected. Magenta’s complement is green, and yellow is the complement of blue.

For example, cyan ink used alone will absorb or subtract the red-reflecting wavelengths from the white light source, which contains all colors, so that the light reflected is pale blue. Overlaying magenta with yellow will create red or orange, depending on the intensity of the color layers, and placing yellow over cyan will create green. The three colors are usually laid down in the order described (cyan, magenta, yellow), and all three together will produce violet, brown, or even black (known as composite or process black). All colors can be reproduced with only cyan, magenta, and yellow, but hues are usually richer and details are crisper when the black key plate is used, and black ink is less expensive than colored ink.

Since the ink is deposited in a pattern of tiny dots, lighter shades of these colors are created using a process called half-toning or screening, which creates differing intensities by laying down dots of color at varying distances. The eye perceives a low concentration of magenta dots on white paper as a uniform light pink.

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