Color model or "CMYK" color space. The cyan ink absorbs red light but transmits green and blue, the magenta ink absorbs green light but transmits red and blue, and the yellow ink absorbs blue light but transmits red and green. The white substrate reflects the transmitted light back to the viewer. Because in practice the CMY inks suitable for printing also reflect a little bit of color, making a deep and neutral black impossible, the K (black ink) component, usually printed last, is needed to compensate for their deficiencies. Use of a separate black ink is also economically driven when a lot
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