Trichromatic printing
Trichromatic printing reproduces color images by combining three subtractive ink layers, typically cyan, magenta, and yellow, on a printing surface.
Subtractive color: A color-mixing process in which pigments or filters absorb portions of light, leaving the remaining wavelengths to be seen. The inks produce color by absorbing light reflected from the paper.
Printing ink: A fluid or paste used to transfer colored marks onto a surface through a printing process. Its pigments and transparency determine how each color layer affects the others.
James Clerk Maxwell: A Scottish physicist whose work unified electricity, magnetism, and light and advanced the theory of color vision. His 1861 color demonstration used three filtered images to produce a color composite.
Four-color process: A printing method that combines cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks to reproduce color images. Adding black improves dark tones and detail beyond the three-color approach.
Color separation: The preparation of separate image components for printing with different inks or printing plates. Each ink layer requires a corresponding tonal separation of the original image.
Paper: A thin material made from interlaced plant fibers or other substances and used for writing, printing, and packaging. The paper reflects light through the inks and supplies much of the image's apparent brightness.
Thomas Sutton: A British photographer and photographic writer who made the camera exposures for Maxwell's 1861 color demonstration. He produced the three filtered photographs that were recombined in the demonstration.
Spot color printing: A printing method that applies premixed inks as distinct colors rather than building them from process-color dots. It can print exact or vivid colors that three process inks cannot match.
Cyan–magenta–yellow color model: A subtractive color model that uses cyan, magenta, and yellow as its primary colors. These three inks are the standard set for forming a broad range of printed colors.
Pigment: A particulate material that imparts color by selectively absorbing and scattering light. Pigments give printing inks their color through selective light absorption.