Chapter 22 — Self-Check Quiz

Twenty-six questions to check your grip on the phone as a real camera: what it is, how to drive it, and how to beat its limits. Mix of multiple choice, true/false-with-justification, short answer, and a few "what's wrong with this shot?" seeing questions. Answer before checking the key; a justification you can't write is a concept you haven't got yet.

Multiple choice

1. The single physical fact that causes most of a phone camera's genuine limitations is: - (a) Its lens is too sharp. - (b) Its sensor is very small. - (c) It has too many megapixels. - (d) Its aperture is too wide.

2. A typical phone drives the exposure triangle with how many of its three controls, and which one is missing? - (a) All three; none missing. - (b) Two; the aperture is fixed. - (c) Two; the ISO is fixed. - (d) One; only shutter speed is adjustable.

3. A phone's main camera typically sees the world at roughly what angle of view? - (a) ~85mm-equivalent (a tight portrait lens). - (b) ~200mm-equivalent (a telephoto). - (c) ~26–28mm-equivalent (a wide lens). - (d) ~50mm-equivalent (a "normal" lens).

4. "ProRAW" (and phone RAW generally) is best described as: - (a) A finished, compressed JPEG with extra sharpening. - (b) An editable, negative-grade file with far more highlight/shadow and white-balance latitude than a JPEG (ProRAW also keeps much of the phone's computational processing). - (c) A video format. - (d) The same as a screenshot.

5. When you pinch-zoom a phone past its longest optical lens, the phone is: - (a) Switching to a sharper dedicated telephoto. - (b) Cropping into the sensor and upscaling — inventing detail it never captured (digital zoom). - (c) Increasing the true focal length of the lens. - (d) Lowering the ISO automatically.

6. The most useful first move against noise in a dim phone photo is: - (a) Pinch-zoom in to fill the frame. - (b) Raise ISO as high as it will go. - (c) Add or move to better light (or use Night mode / steady the phone). - (d) Turn off HDR.

7. Which accessory gives a phone photographer the most value per dollar? - (a) An exotic clip-on lens kit. - (b) A second gimbal. - (c) Something to hold the phone still (a mini-tripod or clamp). - (d) A spare case.

8. A phone's deep depth of field is described in this chapter as a teaching advantage because: - (a) It makes every background blurry automatically. - (b) It removes the crutch of background blur, forcing you to compose a clean frame and use light. - (c) It increases the sensor size. - (d) It lets you skip focusing.

9. "Exposure lock" (AE/AF lock) on a phone lets you: - (a) Permanently delete a photo. - (b) Freeze the current exposure and focus so they don't shift as you recompose or as the scene changes. - (c) Increase the megapixel count. - (d) Add a watermark.

10. For a keeper headed into editing, you should generally capture in: - (a) The smallest possible JPEG, to save space. - (b) RAW or ProRAW, for the editing latitude. - (c) Screenshot. - (d) Whatever Auto picks; it doesn't matter.

True / False — and say why

For each, mark True or False and write one sentence justifying it. The justification is the real question.

11. "Because a phone's sensor is small, the four decisions (light, moment, frame, focus) work differently on a phone than on a big camera."

12. "On a phone, shutter speed becomes your primary creative exposure control, because the aperture is fixed."

13. "Night mode is a case where surrendering manual control to the phone's computer is the expert move."

14. "The harsh, flat 'phone selfie look' is caused by the small sensor and can only be fixed by buying a better camera."

15. "A clip-on telephoto lens is usually a better buy than a clip-on macro lens."

16. "A JPEG preserves more recoverable highlight and shadow detail than a RAW file."

17. "Getting physically closer to a subject (with distance behind it) produces real optical background blur on a phone, no computation required."

Short answer

18. Name the four small-sensor limits, and for each give the single best first move to beat it.

19. In one or two sentences, explain why a RAW file gives you more room to recover a blown sky than a JPEG does. (Bit depth.)

20. Why does this chapter say the phone is an excellent teacher of composition and light?

21. Give the chapter's one-line decision rule for the phone (good light vs. hard low light vs. every light).

22. List, in order of value-per-dollar, the three phone accessory categories the chapter recommends.

Seeing questions — what's wrong with this shot?

23. A described shot: "A portrait of a friend made with the front-facing camera, the phone held at arm's length straight in front of the face, indoors under a ceiling light directly overhead. The face looks flat, the skin harsh, the eyes a little startled; a cluttered kitchen is sharp behind them." Name the two biggest errors (one about light, one about the frame) and prescribe the re-shoot.

24. A described shot: "A landscape at a scenic overlook, shot by pinch-zooming the phone to '10×' to bring a distant peak closer. The peak looks soft and smeary, with a painted-over, mushy texture, while the photographer stood still the whole time." Diagnose the error against the small-sensor limits and prescribe the fix.

25. A described shot: "A backlit photo of a child against a bright window, shot on full Auto. The window is correctly bright, but the child is a near-black silhouette — and the photographer wanted to see the child's face." Name the control that would have fixed this in half a second, and exactly how to use it.

26. A described shot: "A Portrait-mode photo of a person wearing glasses and with flyaway hair. The synthetic background blur looks convincing across most of the frame, but the edge of the glasses and several strands of hair are blurred into the background, and a gap under the arm is sharp where it should be soft." What is happening, and what does it tell you about trusting Portrait mode?

Answer Key

1. (b) — the small sensor drives noise, limited dynamic range, and deep depth of field. (§22.1)

2. (b) — two controls; the aperture is a fixed opening, so you control exposure with shutter speed and ISO. (§22.1, §22.2)

3. (c) — roughly 26–28mm-equivalent: a wide lens, not a portrait lens. (§22.1)

4. (b) — a negative-grade, editable file with much more latitude than JPEG; ProRAW also retains much of the phone's computational processing. (§22.2)

5. (b) — it's digital zoom: a crop-and-upscale that invents detail and softens the image. (§22.1, §22.4)

6. (c) — more photons is the real fix: add/find light, or let Night mode compute, or steady the phone. (§22.4)

7. (c) — steadiness (a mini-tripod or clamp) unlocks low-light and long-exposure work for little money. (§22.5)

8. (b) — no background-blur crutch means you must actually compose and light the frame. (§22.3)

9. (b) — it freezes exposure and focus so the image stops jumping as you recompose. (§22.2)

10. (b) — RAW/ProRAW, for the highlight/shadow/white-balance latitude an edit needs. (§22.2)

11. False — the four decisions are identical regardless of device; the sensor affects technical qualities (noise, dynamic range, blur), not the creative decisions that make a photograph good. (§22.3)

12. True — with a fixed aperture, shutter speed (with ISO) carries the exposure, and shutter speed is the leg with the most creative reach (freeze vs. blur). (§22.2)

13. True — Night mode out-computes any single hand-set high-ISO exposure by capturing and merging a burst, so letting it work is the expert choice in genuinely dark conditions. (§22.4)

14. False — it's a lighting failure (flat frontal light), fixed by turning the subject toward soft side light such as a window; the camera isn't the cause. (§22.3)

15. False — a tele clip-on usually degrades the image and is beaten by the phone's own tele lens or by walking closer; a good macro clip-on enables genuine close-focus the phone otherwise can't do. (§22.5)

16. False — RAW stores more bits per channel before any curve and discards nothing at the extremes, so it preserves far more recoverable highlight/shadow detail than an already-clipped JPEG. (§22.2 Physics)

17. True — depth of field is shallowest at close focus distances, so getting close with a far background gives real optical blur. (§22.4)

18. Noise → add/find light (or Night mode, steady the phone, shoot RAW). Limited dynamic range → leave HDR on (or expose for highlights and recover shadows; soften the light). Deep depth of field → get close with distance behind (or use the tele lens; Portrait mode, checking edges). Weak telephoto → shoot at optical stops only and zoom with your feet (or compose wider). (§22.4)

19. A RAW stores more bits per color channel (10–14+ vs. JPEG's 8) before any display curve is applied, keeping the tonal levels just below white and just above black that a JPEG clips and throws away at capture — those retained levels are the detail you recover. (§22.2 Physics)

20. Because it gives you almost no background-blur or long-lens crutch, the phone forces you to actually compose a clean frame and choose good light — returning the burden of the photograph to the four decisions, where it belongs. (§22.3)

21. In good light, take full manual control and shoot RAW; in hard low light, let Night mode and HDR compute; and in every light, make the four decisions yourself. (§22.2, Summary)

22. (1) Something to hold the phone still (mini-tripod/clamp); (2) something to light the subject (bounce card / small LED); (3) a good macro clip-on if you love close-up. (§22.5)

23. Light: the source is flat and frontal (overhead/front light on the face), making it harsh and shapeless — turn the subject toward soft side light (a window). Frame: the cluttered, sharp background competes with the subject — move to find a plain background and use the main (rear) camera a step back rather than the front camera at arm's length. Re-shoot: subject by a window, three-quarters toward the light, clean background, rear lens, eye tapped to focus. (§22.3)

24. The photographer hit Limit 4 (weak telephoto reach) by pinch-zooming far past the optical lenses into heavy digital crop, so the peak's detail is interpolated, not resolved. Fix: shoot at an optical stop (e.g. the phone's real tele), and either accept the wider framing or zoom with your feet (walk to a closer vantage) — and compose for what the phone can resolve. (§22.4)

25. Exposure lock / tap-to-meter (with the exposure slider). Tap the child's face so the phone meters for it (the face comes up), nudge the exposure slider up, and lock AE/AF before the moment — accepting a brighter/blown window as a deliberate trade. (§22.2)

26. Portrait mode computes a depth map and applies synthetic blur, and it misjudges the hard cases — fine edges (glasses rims, flyaway hair) and gaps — blurring some things that should be sharp and sharpening some that should be soft. It tells you Portrait mode is a useful tool, not magic: use it, then check the edges, and prefer real optical separation when the subject has tricky edges. (§22.4; depth maps and synthetic bokeh are unpacked in Chapter 23.)

Topics to review by question

• Q1–3, 23: what a phone is — small sensor, fixed wide fast lens, the computer (§22.1).
• Q2, 9–10, 12–13, 16, 25: driving the phone — manual mode, exposure lock, RAW/ProRAW, bit depth (§22.2).
• Q8, 11, 14, 20, 23: composition and light still rule (§22.3).
• Q5–6, 17–19, 24, 26: beating the small sensor — noise, dynamic range, depth of field, telephoto (§22.4).
• Q7, 15, 22: accessories by value (§22.5).
• Q4, 21: the chapter's decision rule and capture format; preview of Chapter 23.