Subtractive color or subtractive color mixing predicts the spectral power distribution of light after it passes through successive layers of partially absorbing media. This idealized model is the essential principle of how dyes and pigments are used in color printing and photography, where the perception of color is elicited after white light passes through microscopic "stacks" of partially absorbing media allowing some wavelengths of light to reach the eye and not others, and also in painting, whether the colors are mixed or applied in successive layers.
An 1877 color photo by Louis Ducos du Hauron, a French pioneer of color photography. The overlapping subtractive yellow, cyan and red (magenta) image elements can be seen clearly along the edges of the image.
Classification of pigment colors
Cyan, magenta and yellow color filters
A pigment is a powder used to add color or change visual appearance. Pigments are completely or nearly insoluble and chemically unreactive in water or another medium; in contrast, dyes are colored substances which are soluble or go into solution at some stage in their use. Dyes are often organic compounds whereas pigments are often inorganic. Pigments of prehistoric and historic value include ochre, charcoal, and lapis lazuli.
Pigments for sale at a market stall in Goa, India
The Milkmaid by Johannes Vermeer (c. 1658). Vermeer was lavish in his choice of expensive pigments, including lead-tin yellow, natural ultramarine, and madder lake, as shown in the vibrant painting.
Titian used the historic pigment vermilion to create the reds in the oil painting of Assunta, completed c. 1518.
Miracle of the Slave by Tintoretto (c. 1548). The son of a master dyer, Tintoretto used Carmine Red Lake pigment, derived from the cochineal insect, to achieve dramatic color effects.
