Why do printers have CMYK ink instead of RYB & black ink?
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RBG is used when light is mixed. Mixing those 3 colors in different ratios allows for the (practical) recreation of any color. The wavelengths of one are added to the wavelengths of the others. CMYK is used when pigments are mixed. A red pigment appears red because it reflects red and all the other wavelengths are absorbed and converted to heat. If you mix a red pigment (which absorbs blue and green) with a blue pigment (which absorbs red and green) and a green pigment (which absorbs red and blue) then theoretically no light would be reflected and it would look black. Now our pigments aren’t perfect, so black (the k in cmyk) is added to get deeper blacks. So which to use depends on what’s making the image: a light source like a pc monitor, or a light reflector like a photographic print.
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