Chapter 32 — Self-Check Quiz
Twenty-six questions to test whether the chapter's frameworks are yours yet. Mix of multiple choice, true/false-with-justification, short answer, and a few "what's wrong with this situation?" seeing-questions. Answer before you check — and for the justification items, the reasoning is the point, not just the letter. The Answer Key and a "topics to review" map are at the end.
Multiple choice
Q1. Informed consent requires that the subject understands all of the following EXCEPT: a) who you are b) what the photograph is for c) where the image may appear d) the exact f-number and shutter speed you used
Q2. A person nods when you point your camera at them but speaks no language you share and has no idea you plan to sell the image as stock. You have obtained: a) informed consent b) a model release c) permission, but not informed consent d) the right of publicity
Q3. A model release is generally required when you: a) take any photograph of a person in public b) use a recognizable person's likeness to sell a product or service c) post a street photo to your personal portfolio d) publish a news photograph editorially
Q4. The right of publicity protects: a) the photographer's ownership of the image b) a person's right to be left alone in private c) a person's right to control commercial use of their name, image, and likeness d) the public's right to photograph public buildings
Q5. In the strict documentary contract of photojournalism, which adjustment is acceptable? a) cloning out a distracting sign b) compositing a more dramatic sky c) global contrast, color balance, and cropping d) moving a subject for better composition
Q6. Photo manipulation crosses into deception specifically when it: a) uses any editing tool at all b) alters content in a way that breaks the contract the viewer reasonably assumed c) is applied to a portrait d) involves more than one exposure
Q7. Which factor most sharply raises the ethical bar in the four-question fairness test? a) the camera is expensive b) the subject is a willing public figure c) the image will be published to thousands, searchable and permanent d) the light is soft and flattering
Q8. The outsider's lens failure of aestheticizing hardship for a comfortable viewer's consumption is best described as: a) the single story b) poverty as scenery c) the vanishing-native fallacy d) exoticism
Q9. Shooting a vulnerable subject from above rather than at eye level primarily communicates: a) better composition b) technical skill c) power and pity d) honest representation
Q10. The best one-word repair for an image whose genre or alterations might mislead the viewer is: a) cropping b) disclosure c) retouching d) compression
Q11. "It's legal to publish this, so it's fine" is an inadequate ethical standard because: a) the law is always wrong b) the law is a floor, not a ceiling — it defines liability, not rightness c) photography is never legal d) only commercial use is governed by law
Q12. A photographer's code of ethics is most valuable because it: a) is legally binding b) impresses clients c) is decided in advance, so you act from principle when the pressured moment arrives d) resolves every possible hard case automatically
Q13. Which use of a recognizable person's portrait generally does NOT require a model release? a) an advertisement for a gym b) product packaging c) a news article about the event where it was taken d) a campaign flyer for a politician
Q14. The three rights to hold apart when you photograph a person are: a) exposure, focus, and composition b) copyright (who owns the image), privacy (right to be left alone), and publicity (control of commercial use) c) shutter, aperture, and ISO d) editorial, commercial, and fine-art
True / False — and say why
For each, mark T or F and write the one sentence that justifies your answer. A right letter with wrong reasoning earns nothing.
Q15. Asking a stranger for consent always destroys the authenticity of a candid portrait.
Q16. Removing a power line from a real-estate listing and removing a power line from a news photograph are ethically identical acts.
Q17. Anonymizing a subject (obscuring their face) is always a way of dodging the work of getting consent.
Q18. A photographer can own the copyright to a portrait and still be unable to license it for an advertisement.
Q19. Because privacy law varies by country, this chapter's guidance can substitute for consulting an actual lawyer when money and a real dispute are involved.
Q20. Disclosing that an image is a composite weakens it by admitting it isn't "real."
Short answer
Q21. In two or three sentences, explain the difference between permission and informed consent, and name the missing ingredient that turns one into the other.
Q22. State the four questions of the fairness test (Figure 32.2) and, in one phrase each, what each one is checking.
Q23. Give two concrete choices (not vibes) that move a photograph of a vulnerable person from extraction toward collaboration.
Q24. Explain the "promises, not pixels" idea: why can the identical edit be honest in one image and a serious deception in another?
What's wrong with this situation? (seeing questions)
Q25. A photographer makes a striking frame at a public protest, then composites a darker, stormier sky from a different day "to match the mood," and publishes it in a newspaper's news section with no note. Identify the specific ethical failure, name the contract that was broken, and state what — if anything — would have made the same image acceptable.
Q26. A travel photographer posts a gorgeous golden-hour image of a child in a slum, shot from above with a long lens, no consent, captioned "Innocence Amid Ruins," and licenses it as stock. Name three distinct ethical problems in this single situation and the principle each one violates.
Answer Key
Q1 — d. Informed consent is about understanding the use (who, what, where), not the technical settings, which are irrelevant to the subject.
Q2 — c. A nod without understanding of the use is permission, not informed consent; selling it as stock additionally requires a release and almost certainly compensation.
Q3 — b. Releases are about commercial use of a likeness; editorial, portfolio, and news uses generally do not require one.
Q4 — c. The right of publicity governs commercial control of one's likeness — distinct from copyright (the photographer's) and privacy (being left alone).
Q5 — c. Only global, whole-frame adjustments a darkroom printer could always make (tone, color, crop, dust spotting) are permitted; adding, removing, or moving content is forbidden.
Q6 — b. Manipulation is not inherently wrong; it becomes deception only when it breaks the viewer's reasonable contract about what kind of image this is.
Q7 — c. Publication at scale, searchable and permanent, multiplies any harm and is the factor most under the photographer's control — it sharply raises the bar.
Q8 — b. Aestheticizing hardship for comfortable consumption is "poverty as scenery."
Q9 — c. Camera height is a moral statement; shooting down at a vulnerable subject encodes power and pity.
Q10 — b. Disclosure converts a potential deception into an honest object.
Q11 — b. The law defines what you can be sued for, not what is right; many legal photographs are unfair or cruel.
Q12 — c. A code's value is being already-decided under calm so the pressured moment is governed by principle, not adrenaline. It does not auto-resolve every case.
Q13 — c. Editorial/news use generally does not need a release; the other three are commercial uses that do.
Q14 — b. Copyright, privacy, and publicity are three distinct rights that must be held apart.
Q15 — False. Asking can briefly raise self-consciousness, but that fades with trust; many of the most intimate portraits in history were made with their subjects, not stolen — and asking often yields something truer.
Q16 — False. The acts are physically identical but ethically opposite: the real-estate listing is under a loose contract where cleanup is expected; the news photo is under the strict documentary contract where altering content at all is a serious violation.
Q17 — False. Anonymizing is sometimes the protective ethical choice — for a survivor, an undocumented worker, anyone endangered by exposure — made for the subject's safety, which is different from concealing a face to avoid asking.
Q18 — True. Copyright (ownership of the image) belongs to the photographer, but commercial use of the subject's likeness requires their permission via a release because they hold the right of publicity.
Q19 — False. The chapter is explicitly not legal advice; privacy law varies enormously, and when money or a real dispute is involved you must consult the actual local law and ideally a lawyer.
Q20 — False. Disclosure does not weaken an image; it converts a possible deception into an honest, often more interesting object, and protects the viewer's trust.
Q21. Permission is a yes-shaped response (a nod, a shrug, "sure"); informed consent is a real yes from someone who understands who you are, what the photo is for, and where it may appear. The missing ingredient is understanding of the use — without it, a yes is permission-shaped but not informed.
Q22. Expectation (does the person reasonably expect privacy right now?); Power (is there a power gap I'm exploiting?); Purpose (why am I making this, and is it honest?); Publication (where will this go, and what's the harm if it does?).
Q23. Any two of: shoot at the subject's eye level instead of above; use their name and own words instead of an abstract label; get consent scaled to their vulnerability; give them agency over pose/expression; answer the benefit question (who gains, who risks?).
Q24. Because the ethics of manipulation is about the promise the viewer reasonably assumed, not the tool used. A cloned-out object is invisible craft under a landscape's loose contract and a firing offense under news's strict contract — same keystroke, different promise, opposite verdict.
Q25. The failure is presenting an invented element (a sky that was never there) as part of a factual record. The broken contract is the strict documentary/photojournalism contract, which forbids adding, removing, or moving any content. Nothing would make this acceptable in the news section: a composite cannot be a news photo. The image could only run honestly if relabeled as a photo illustration and moved out of the factual news context — and even then, disclosure is mandatory.
Q26. Any three of: (1) No consent for an identifiable, highly vulnerable subject — violates the consent-as-default and consent-scaled-to-vulnerability principles. (2) Power gap exploited — shot from above with a long lens to stay unseen, encoding pity and taking without involving the subject — violates the dignity discipline. (3) Poverty as scenery / exoticism — aestheticizing hardship ("golden-hour slum") and labeling the person as an abstraction ("Innocence Amid Ruins") — violates honest representation. (4) Commercial use without a release — licensing a recognizable person (a minor, no less) as stock — violates the right of publicity and almost certainly the law. Naming any three with their principles earns full marks.
Topics to review by question
- Consent & informed consent (§32.1): Q1, Q2, Q15, Q21
- Releases & the right of publicity (§32.1): Q3, Q4, Q13, Q18, Q22 (publication)
- Privacy, law, fairness test (§32.2): Q7, Q11, Q19, Q22
- The documentary contract & manipulation (§32.3): Q5, Q6, Q10, Q16, Q20, Q24, Q25
- Representation & vulnerable subjects (§32.4): Q9, Q23, Q26
- The outsider's lens (§32.5): Q8, Q26
- The personal code (§32.6): Q12
- Three rights held apart (§32.1 / Summary): Q14, Q18
If you missed more than two in any one cluster, reread that section before the exercises — ethics compounds, and a shaky grasp of consent makes every later judgment shakier.