Orange is a secondary color that is made by mixing the primary colors red and yellow. When red and yellow light are mixed together, the result is orange light. When red and yellow pigments or dyes are mixed together, the result is orange paint or ink. So the simple answer is yes, orange is made by combining red and yellow.
The Color Wheel
To understand where orange fits in relation to red and yellow, it helps to look at a color wheel. A basic color wheel shows the primary, secondary, and tertiary colors and how they relate to each other. The primary colors are red, yellow, and blue. These are called primary colors because they cannot be created by mixing other colors – all other colors are derived from some combination of these 3.
The secondary colors – orange, green, and purple – are each made by mixing two adjacent primary colors. Orange is made by mixing red and yellow, green is made by mixing yellow and blue, and purple is made by mixing blue and red.
Finally, the tertiary colors are made by mixing a primary color with a secondary color adjacent to it on the wheel. For example, red-orange is made by mixing red and orange, and yellow-orange is made by mixing yellow and orange.
Mixing Light vs. Pigments
When working with light, such as on a computer screen or theater lighting, mixing red and yellow light together directly makes orange light. This is known as additive color mixing, because the wavelengths of light are being added together to create new hues.
However, mixing pigments like paint or dyes is different. With pigments, each color absorbs certain wavelengths of light and reflects others. The reflected wavelengths are what we see as the color. When red and yellow pigments are mixed, both absorb some wavelengths, and the resulting color we see is orange.
So with pigment mixing, also called subtractive color mixing, the combination of colors creates a different effect than directly mixing colored light. But the overall principle remains the same – red and yellow combined make orange.
The Visible Spectrum
Another way to look at the relationship between red, yellow and orange is by examining the visible spectrum of light. The visible spectrum is the range of wavelengths of light that the human eye can see. This spans from red light with the longest wavelengths, transitioning through orange and yellow, to violet/blue light with the shortest wavelengths.
The wavelength range for what we call orange light sits between red and yellow. It overlaps red at the long wavelength end, and yellow at the short wavelength end. So orange can be considered a “mixture” of the two from the perspective of the electromagnetic spectrum as well.
| Color | Wavelength range (nm) |
|---|---|
| Red | 620-750 |
| Orange | 590-620 |
| Yellow | 570-590 |
Pigment and Dye Mixing
When working with pigments, dyes, or other coloring agents, mixing red and yellow together directly produces orange as well. This could be mixing red and yellow paint, combining red and yellow dyes, or any other medium where the colors are blended before being applied. For example:
- Mixing red and yellow frosting makes orange frosting
- Combining red and yellow inks produces orange ink
- Blending the dyes used to color red and yellow fabrics makes orange fabric
- Stirring red and yellow colored candies together results in orange candies
The specific shades of the red, yellow, and resulting orange will vary based on the pigments used and their exact chemical composition. But the general principle always holds – mix red coloring and yellow coloring to get orange coloring.
Light Sources and Filters
We can also combine red and yellow light directly using light sources and filters. Two common examples are:
- Overlapping the beams from a red laser pointer and a yellow laser pointer produces orange where they intersect
- Placing a red filter and yellow filter together in front of a white light source makes the light passing through them turn orange
The same effect of combining red and yellow light to make orange light can be seen in nature too. Sunsets often display orange tones because as sunlight passes through more of the atmosphere at an angle, more of the blue light is scattered away. This leaves more of the red and yellow wavelengths to come through and create vivid orange sunsets.
Computer Color Mixing
On digital displays like computer monitors and phone screens that mix colors using light, orange is made by combining pure red and pure yellow light pixels together. Computer applications like graphics software and web design tools rely on mixing red, green and blue light to create all the colors we see on screen.
So to make orange on a digital display, the red pixels are set to their maximum brightness, the green pixels are turned off, and the blue pixels are set somewhere around half brightness to add in some yellow. The combination produces the saturated orange color that we expect.
Printing with Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black
In the printing process using CMYK color model, orange is created by layering magenta and yellow inks or dyes onto the paper, fabric, or other printing surface. Cyan and black is reduced to create a bright, vivid orange.
The percentages of each ink can be adjusted to control the exact shade of orange:
- Yellow set to 100%
- Magenta set to around 50-80% depending on depth of orange desired
- Cyan set to 0%
- Black set to 0% for bright orange, increased to make a darker orange
This layered ink process again relies on the mixing of yellow and a reddish color (magenta) to produce the orange printed result.
Pigment Color Codes
With both physical pigments and digital colors, red, yellow, and orange can be precisely defined using color coding specifications. For physical pigments, codes like Pantone Matching System (PMS) and Natural Colour System (NCS) assign standardized numeric codes to each color to define their composition.
Some examples of red, yellow, and orange pigment codes:
- PMS Warm Red = PMS 179
- PMS Process Yellow = PMS 100
- PMS Orange 021 = PMS 021
These codes allow exact reproduction of the colors across different materials and manufacturing processes.
On digital displays, colors are defined using hexadecimal RGB codes. Each code starts with # and then has 6 characters defining the mixes of red, green and blue light to create the desired color. Some examples are:
- Orange RGB code = #FFA500
- Red RGB code = #FF0000
- Yellow RGB code = #FFFF00
Here the orange is created by mixing full red (FF in hexadecimal) with about 2/3 yellow (A5). The RGB model confirms that on screens, combining red and yellow pixels creates orange.
Conclusion
In summary, orange is created by mixing red and yellow regardless of whether we are working with light, pigments, dyes, computer graphics, or any other color medium. The specific proportions and shades will vary based on the materials and processes used, but the essential orange color arises from bringing together its parent colors of red and yellow.
So the next time you see something orange, you can recall that you’re looking at a blend of red plus yellow.
