Color printing yellow (minus-blue) overprinted by magenta (minus green) yields red. Where all three inks may overlap, almost all incident light is absorbed or subtracted, yielding near black, but in practical terms it is better and cheaper to use a separate black ink instead of combining three colored inks. The secondary or subtractive colors cyan, magenta and yellow may be considered "primary" by printers and watercolorists (whose basic inks and paints are transparent). Two graphic techniques are required to prepare images for four-color printing. In the "pre-press" stage, original images are translated into forms that can be used on a printing press,
Combination printing often necessary to add artistic techniques to photographs. Discussing the benefits of composition in the art of photography and using combination printing, Robinson wrote, in "Pictorial Effect in Photography", that the method of combination served to "produce an agreeable presentation of forms and tones, to tell the story which is to be elucidated, and to embody the spirit of what it is intended the picture shall represent or suggest." His writings show his knowledge and his passion for creating new content in his photos with using this process. During the Victorian Era, another proponent of the technique of combination printing