Chapter 3 — Quiz

Twenty-six questions to check that the exposure triangle is genuinely yours: multiple choice, true/false (with a required justification), short answer, and several "what's wrong with this exposure?" seeing questions. Answer before peeking. The Answer Key at the end gives a one-line explanation for each and a map of which section to review for any you miss.

Multiple choice

Q1. A "stop" in photography refers to: - A) The shutter button being pressed - B) A doubling or halving of the amount of light - C) The smallest aperture a lens can reach - D) A pause between burst frames

Q2. Three stops more light is how many times the light? - A) 3× - B) 6× - C) 8× - D) 9×

Q3. Which aperture lets in the most light? - A) f/16 - B) f/8 - C) f/4 - D) f/2

Q4. You want a blurry, dissolved background behind a portrait. You should choose: - A) A narrow aperture (large f-number like f/16) - B) A wide aperture (small f-number like f/2.8) - C) A fast shutter speed - D) A high ISO

Q5. Which shutter speed is the fastest (shortest duration)? - A) 1/30 s - B) 1/250 s - C) 1/1000 s - D) 1 s

Q6. To render a waterfall as a silky white veil, you would use: - A) A very fast shutter speed and a tripod - B) A very slow shutter speed and a tripod - C) The widest aperture available - D) The highest ISO available

Q7. The creative side effect of ISO is: - A) Depth of field - B) Motion blur - C) Digital noise - D) White balance

Q8. You change ISO from 400 to 1600. This is: - A) One stop brighter - B) Two stops brighter - C) Four stops brighter - D) Two stops darker

Q9. In the exposure triangle, if you open the aperture by two stops and want to keep the same brightness, you could: - A) Slow the shutter by two stops - B) Raise the ISO by two stops - C) Speed up the shutter by two stops - D) Do nothing; brightness is unaffected

Q10. A camera's light meter assumes the average brightness of a scene should come out to: - A) Pure white - B) Pure black - C) Middle grey - D) Whatever the brightest object is

Q11. You photograph a snowy field at the meter's recommended "0" setting. The snow will most likely appear: - A) Correctly white - B) Dull grey (underexposed) - C) Blown-out and clipped (overexposed) - D) Bright blue

Q12. "Clipping" on the right wall of a histogram means: - A) The shadows are crushed to pure black - B) The highlights are blown to pure white with no recoverable detail - C) The image is perfectly exposed - D) The white balance is too warm

Q13. Which control should you generally adjust last, only when the other two can't make a correct, sharp exposure? - A) Aperture - B) Shutter speed - C) ISO - D) Exposure compensation

Q14. You're shooting a fast-moving subject and motion is your top priority. The most efficient mode is: - A) Aperture-priority (A/Av) - B) Shutter-priority (S/Tv) - C) Full Auto - D) Bulb

Q15. Your handheld shots with a 200mm lens are all slightly soft (an all-over softness, not a moving-subject smear). The most likely cause is: - A) The aperture is too narrow - B) The ISO is too low - C) Camera shake — the shutter is too slow for that focal length - D) The white balance is wrong

True / False — with justification

State true or false and add one sentence saying why. The justification is the real answer.

Q16. "Two stops of light is twice as much as one stop of light."

Q17. "A larger f-number (like f/16) means a larger aperture opening."

Q18. "Raising the ISO physically makes the sensor collect more light."

Q19. "The image on the camera's rear screen is a reliable way to judge whether your exposure is correct."

Q20. "There is exactly one correct exposure for any given scene."

Short answer

Q21. In one or two sentences, explain why a stop is called a "universal currency" across the three exposure controls.

Q22. Name each control's side effect, and state which one you'd lead with (set first) when photographing (a) a portrait with a soft background, and (b) a child running.

Q23. Your friend asks, "Why would I ever use full Manual instead of just letting the camera handle it?" Give them the one situation where Manual genuinely earns its keep.

Q24. Explain the rule of thumb "white snow, add; black cat, subtract" — what is being added or subtracted, and why does the meter make this necessary?

What's wrong with this exposure? (Seeing questions)

Q25. A described shot: A portrait taken indoors. The photographer wanted a soft, blurred background and set the widest aperture, f/1.8. The subject's eyes are tack-sharp — but the tip of their nose and their ears are already noticeably soft, and so is everything behind them. The exposure is the right brightness. What is the trade-off the photographer ran into, and what single change would give a bit more margin while keeping most of the background blur?

Q26. A described shot: A photo of a stage performer under a bright spotlight against a black backdrop. The photographer used evaluative metering at "0." In the result, the dark backdrop has been lifted to a muddy, noisy grey, and the performer's brightly lit face is washed out with no detail in the highlights. Explain what fooled the meter, which way the exposure went wrong, and what the photographer should have done (think compensation and which part of the scene to meter for).

Answer Key

Click for answers, explanations, and a topics-to-review map **Q1 — B.** A stop is a doubling or halving of light; the universal unit for all three controls. *(§3.1)* **Q2 — C (8×).** Each stop doubles: 2 × 2 × 2 = 8, not 3×. The scale is multiplicative. *(§3.1)* **Q3 — D (f/2).** Small f-number = large opening = more light. The numbers run backwards. *(§3.2)* **Q4 — B.** A wide aperture (small f-number) gives shallow depth of field, dissolving the background. *(§3.2)* **Q5 — C (1/1000 s).** A thousandth of a second is the shortest duration listed; it lets in the least light and freezes motion hardest. *(§3.3)* **Q6 — B.** A slow shutter blurs the moving water into a veil; a tripod keeps the static parts sharp. *(§3.3)* **Q7 — C (noise).** ISO trades brightness for digital noise (grain), most visible in the shadows. *(§3.4)* **Q8 — B (two stops).** 400 → 800 is one doubling, 800 → 1600 is another. *(§3.4)* **Q9 — C.** Opening two stops adds light; speed up the shutter two stops to take the same light back and hold brightness. (Slowing the shutter or raising ISO would *add* more light — wrong direction.) *(§3.5)* **Q10 — C (middle grey).** The meter assumes the scene averages to middle grey, which is why it misfires on very light or very dark scenes. *(§3.6)* **Q11 — B (dull grey).** The meter darkens the bright snow toward grey, underexposing it; fix with positive exposure compensation. *(§3.6)* **Q12 — B.** A spike on the right wall = highlights clipped to pure white, detail unrecoverable. *(§3.6)* **Q13 — C (ISO).** Aperture and shutter each trade for a creative effect; ISO trades only for noise, so raise it last. *(§3.4, §3.5)* **Q14 — B (Shutter-priority).** Set the shutter for the motion you want; the camera handles the aperture. *(§3.3, §3.5)* **Q15 — C (camera shake).** With a 200mm lens you need ~1/200 s or faster handheld; a slower speed smears the whole frame from hand tremor. *(§3.3)* **Q16 — False.** Two stops is *four* times one stop's starting point in light terms — each stop doubles, so two stops = 4×, not 2×. *(§3.1)* **Q17 — False.** A larger f-number is a *smaller* opening; f-numbers are denominators and run backwards. *(§3.2)* **Q18 — False.** ISO *amplifies* the signal the sensor already collected; it does not gather more light. That's why it adds noise rather than improving the actual capture. *(§3.4)* **Q19 — False.** The screen's apparent brightness changes with ambient light and eye adaptation (dark in sun, bright in a dark room); the *histogram* is the honest judge. *(§3.6)* **Q20 — False.** Many "equivalent exposures" give the same brightness with different looks; and "correct" is often a creative choice (e.g. deliberately bright or dark). *(§3.1, §3.5)* **Q21.** Because all three controls are measured in stops, and one stop of light is identical no matter which control produced it — so light gained on one control can be exactly given back on another. *(§3.1, §3.5)* **Q22.** Aperture → depth of field; shutter → motion; ISO → noise. (a) Lead with **aperture** (wide, small f-number) for the soft background. (b) Lead with **shutter** (fast, e.g. 1/1000 s) to freeze the running child. *(§3.5)* **Q23.** When the light is constant but the meter keeps getting fooled or keeps re-guessing — a subject moving between sun and shade, a spotlit stage, a snowscape — Manual lets you *lock* one exposure so the camera stops re-metering each frame. *(§3.5)* **Q24.** You add or subtract *exposure compensation* (in stops). The meter wants every scene to average to middle grey, so it underexposes bright-dominated scenes (add to keep them bright) and overexposes dark-dominated ones (subtract to keep them dark). *(§3.6)* **Q25.** The trade-off is depth of field: at f/1.8 the sharp slice is millimetres-thin, too shallow to hold even the whole face. Stopping down a little — to about f/2.8 or f/4 — deepens the focus enough to keep the face sharp while still dissolving the background. *(§3.2)* **Q26.** The large black backdrop fooled the evaluative meter into thinking the scene was too dark, so it *overexposed*, washing the backdrop to grey and blowing the lit face. The fix: dial in negative exposure compensation (about −1 to −2 stops) to keep the scene dark, and/or switch to **spot metering** on the performer's lit face so the meter reads the part that matters and lets the backdrop fall to black. Check the histogram to confirm the highlights aren't clipped. *(§3.6)* --- **Topics to review by question** | If you missed… | Review | |---|---| | Q1, Q2, Q16, Q21 | §3.1 — stops and the doubling scale | | Q3, Q4, Q17, Q25 | §3.2 — aperture and depth of field | | Q5, Q6, Q15 | §3.3 — shutter speed and motion | | Q7, Q8, Q13, Q18 | §3.4 — ISO and noise | | Q9, Q14, Q20, Q22, Q23 | §3.5 — the exposure triangle and order of operations | | Q10, Q11, Q12, Q19, Q24, Q26 | §3.6 — metering, exposure compensation, histogram |