One of three colors that can create all other colors through their mixture but that cannot be created by the mixture of any other colors. dditive primary colors combine colored light to form all the colors. Without additive primaries there is black or darkness and when all the additive primaries are added together in equal, maximum amounts there is white light (white light is all color). The additive primaries are red, green and blue. They are used in television, monitors, video displays, etc. ubtractive primary colors absorb light from the pure white light spectrum. Subtractive primaries are found in the physical world and make up how we see colors in everyday things such as cars, trees and houses. A subtractive primary absorbs light or subtracts a portion of white light. The subtractive primary reflects only its own frequency of light – the yellow subtractive primary, for example, reflects only the yellow wavelength and absorbs cyan and magenta. Subtractive primary colors begin with a base of white light and take away portions of it to form the complete color spectrum. The subtractive primary colors are magenta, yellow and cyan.