Color Systems
There are two basic systems for organizing and mixing color: additive and sub-tractive. Although these two systems share terms and certain characteristics, each must be considered separately.
The Additive System
The additive system of color involves the mixing of colored light. Colored light is mixed by taking a light of one color and a light of another color and beaming them onto a common surface. Where the two colors of light overlap or mix, a third color is produced.
The additive system is used most often in theatrical lighting (theatre plays, music concerts, circus shows, night clubs, etc.). A red spotlight and a blue spotlight are aimed at a performer on a stage, and where the spotlights overlap a magenta color is produced. This is additive color mixing. The red light is adding its wavelengths to the blue light, and a third color, magenta, is the result.
Television and computer screens do not mix color using the additive system. See the appendix for an explanation of color mixing on computer and television monitors.
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