A subtractive colour model combines different hues of a colourant such as a pigment, paint, ink, dye or powder to produce other colours.
- CMYK is a subtractive colour model.
- CMYK pigments are the standard for colour printing because they have a larger gamut than RGB pigments.
- CMYK printing typically uses white paper with good reflective properties and then adds cyan, magenta, yellow and black ink or toner to produce colour.
- Highlights are produced by reducing the amount of coloured ink and printing without black to allow the maximum amount of light to reflect off the paper through the ink.
- Mid tones rely on the brilliance and transparency of the pigments and the reflectivity of the paper to produce fully saturated colours.
- Shadows are produced by adding black to both saturated and desaturated hues.