Vähennysväriavaruudet

Vähennysväriavaruudet, or subtractive color spaces, describe how colors are created by absorbing certain wavelengths of light and reflecting others. This is in contrast to additive color spaces, which create colors by emitting light. The primary subtractive colors are typically cyan, magenta, and yellow (CMY). When these colors are combined, they absorb more light, leading to darker colors. For example, mixing cyan and yellow absorbs blue and red light, respectively, resulting in the reflection of green light.

The subtractive color model is fundamental to how pigments and dyes work. In printing, for instance, cyan, magenta, and yellow inks are used to reproduce a wide range of colors on paper. The absence of any ink results in white (the color of the paper), while the combination of all three inks theoretically produces black, although in practice a separate black ink (K, for key) is often added (CMYK) to achieve deeper blacks and improve detail. This is because the perfect absorption and reflection properties are difficult to achieve with physical inks.

The human eye also perceives color subtractively. When light enters the eye, the cone cells responsible for color vision react to different wavelengths. The brain then interprets these signals as specific colors. Understanding subtractive color spaces is crucial in fields such as art, design, printing, and photography, as it explains the practical application of color mixing and reproduction.