Produced by light waves that are either transmitted or reflected is the definition of color.
RGB from three primary colors of, light red, green, and blue, are used for web pages or monitors. RGB Transmitted light is called additive color. They are combined in different proportions to create millions of colors you see on your screens. These colors you see on your screen are created by using a formula; the range of the different levels is 0 to 255. This is why you see an RGB “formula” that might represent a specific color; for example, the formula would be R=255, G=35, and B=45 for a bright red. So when the level at RGB is at the highest (255), the color you would see would be white because RGB is an additive color, and the opposite would mean that when all the RGB values are at zero, the color would be black.
Reflective color is called subtractive color, which is used by commercial printers.(CMYK, C=Cyan, M=Magenta, Y=Yellow, and K=Black); this is used for printing. Subtractive means we see black if all the light is subtracted or absorbed. The range of levels with CMYK goes from 0-100 percent. So, an example of that same bright red might be C=0, M=91, and Y=87 percent.
Remember, when you see a color on your computer screen, this will not be what you will get if printed. This is why there is a system for spot color, another formula that mixes a specific ratio by using the same color ink chart like a Pantone chart to get a perfect match.
Process color is different from spot color. Process color: four primary transparent ink colors (CMYK) are printed on top of each other, creating an illusion of many different colors ( tons of tiny dots).
