“The difference between a dye and a pigment is that pigments usually are made of crushed minerals rather than plant or insect extracts. A pigment that absorbs only one primary color and reflects two from white light is called a primary pigment. Yellow pigment absorbs blue light and reflects red and green light. Yellow, cyan, and magenta are the colors of primary pigments.

Why Objects Have Different Colors

“A dye is a molecule that absorbs certain wavelengths of light and transmits or reflects others. When light is absorbed, its energy is transferred to the object that it strikes and is transformed into other forms of energy. A red shirt is red because the dyes in it reflect mostly red light to our eyes.