Intermediate Photography Lesson 5 Quiz | Test Your Knowledge

Intermediate Photography: Lesson 5 Quiz

You are shooting a portrait outdoors at noon on a cloudless day. Your subject has harsh shadows under their eyes and nose. What is the simplest way to reduce these shadows without using flash?

Move the subject into open shade where the light is diffused and even

Have the subject tilt their head up toward the sun

Increase your exposure compensation by two stops

Switch to a longer focal length to compress the shadows

What are the four qualities of light that photographers should learn to read in every scene?

Brightness, contrast, saturation, and hue

Direction, quality (hard vs soft), color temperature, and intensity

Aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and white balance

Ambient, fill, rim, and background

Why does golden hour light produce such warm, flattering results for portraits?

The sun is filtered through more atmosphere, producing warm color temperatures, soft quality, and low-angle directional light that models facial features gently

Camera sensors perform better in warm-toned light

Golden hour has less UV radiation, which causes blue color casts

The sun produces different wavelengths of light in the morning and evening

You are photographing a portrait using window light. The side of the face closest to the window is well-lit, but the other side is very dark. What is the easiest way to fill in those shadows?

Turn on the overhead room lights to add ambient fill

Place a white reflector or white foam board on the shadow side to bounce window light back onto the face

Move the subject to stand directly in front of the window facing it

Increase your ISO to brighten the dark side of the face

What is the difference between 'hard' light and 'soft' light?

Hard light is brighter than soft light

Hard light comes from a small or distant source and creates sharp-edged shadows, while soft light comes from a large or close source and creates gentle, gradual shadow transitions

Hard light is outdoor sunlight and soft light is indoor artificial light

Hard light has a warm color temperature and soft light has a cool color temperature

You arrive at a location for a portrait shoot and discover the only available light is harsh overhead midday sun. Instead of rescheduling, how could you use this light creatively?

Shoot silhouettes, use the strong shadows as graphic compositional elements, or look for interesting shadow patterns on your subject

There is no way to shoot good portraits in midday sun. Always reschedule.

Use the slowest shutter speed possible to blur the harsh shadows

Point the camera directly at the sun to create lens flare that softens the look

Blue hour occurs at what time, and what makes it distinctive for photography?

It happens at noon when the sky appears its bluest due to polarization

It is the period just after sunset or just before sunrise, producing cool, even, blue-toned light with low contrast

It happens whenever clouds cover the sun and filter the light blue

It is a white balance setting on your camera, not a time of day

You are shooting a portrait next to a large window. Moving your subject closer to the window produces one look, and moving them farther away produces another. What changes?

The color temperature of the light shifts from warm to cool as you move away

Closer to the window, the light is softer with more gradual shadow transitions. Farther away, the light becomes harder with more contrast between the lit and shadow sides

The depth of field changes because you need to refocus at different distances

The resolution of the image decreases as the subject moves away from the light

A photographer tells you they use walls and pavement as 'natural reflectors.' What do they mean?

They bounce flash off walls instead of using a dedicated reflector

Light-colored surfaces like white walls, concrete sidewalks, and sandy ground reflect sunlight and can fill in shadows on nearby subjects, acting as large, free reflectors

They photograph the reflections in windows and puddles for artistic effect

They use mirror-like building surfaces to redirect sunlight into shady areas

You want to photograph a landscape during golden hour but arrive 20 minutes late. The warm light has already faded. What should you do?

Leave immediately since the best light is gone

Keep shooting because the transition to blue hour often produces beautiful, subtle light that many photographers overlook

Wait until the next golden hour, which starts exactly one hour later

Switch to a warm white balance preset to artificially recreate golden hour tones

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Intermediate Photography Lesson 5 Quiz | Test Your Knowledge

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