Intermediate Photography Lesson 6 Quiz | Test Your Knowledge

Intermediate Photography: Lesson 6 Quiz

You take a portrait using your camera's built-in flash pointed directly at your subject. The result looks flat and unflattering with harsh shadows behind them. Why does direct on-camera flash produce this look?

The flash is too powerful for indoor use and should only be used outdoors

Direct, on-axis flash eliminates the natural shadows that create dimension, and the small flash size creates hard light and sharp shadows behind the subject

The camera's white balance is incorrectly set for flash color temperature

Built-in flashes always produce red-eye, which makes portraits look unflattering

You are photographing people at a dinner party using an external flash. You tilt the flash head upward to bounce off the white ceiling. Why does this produce better-looking light than pointing the flash directly at people?

The ceiling absorbs the harsh frequencies of the flash and only reflects soft light

The light bouncing off the ceiling creates a much larger, softer light source that wraps around your subjects and produces gentler shadows

Bounced flash changes the color temperature to match incandescent room lights

Ceiling bounce eliminates the need for any exposure compensation

You are photographing a friend outdoors on a sunny day. The sun is behind them, creating a beautiful rim of light on their hair, but their face is in shadow. How can flash help?

Fire the flash at full power to overpower the sunlight completely

Use fill flash at reduced power to brighten the face while preserving the natural backlit look and rim light

Use flash to illuminate the background behind the subject

Bounce the flash off the ground to light the face from below

What is flash exposure compensation, and when would you use it?

It adjusts the overall exposure of the image by changing the aperture

It increases or decreases the flash output relative to the camera's automatic calculation, useful when the flash is too bright or too dim for a natural look

It changes the color temperature of the flash to match ambient lighting

It extends the range of the flash by increasing battery voltage

You are in TTL flash mode and notice that your flash exposure varies from shot to shot even though you have not changed position. Why does this happen?

Your flash batteries are dying and producing inconsistent output

TTL meters each scene independently, so changes in subject distance, reflectivity, or background brightness cause the flash output to adjust automatically each time

The camera's autofocus is interfering with the flash metering system

TTL mode only works reliably in manual exposure mode

When would you choose manual flash over TTL flash?

Manual flash is always preferable because TTL is unreliable

When you need consistent flash output from shot to shot, such as a controlled setup where the subject distance does not change

Only when shooting in very bright outdoor conditions

Manual flash is only needed when using off-camera flash setups

You want to photograph a dimly lit room, keeping the warm ambient atmosphere of the candles and lamps while adding a touch of flash to illuminate people's faces. What technique achieves this balance?

Use the fastest shutter speed possible with flash at full power

Use a slower shutter speed to let in ambient light and reduce flash power so the flash fills faces without overpowering the room's natural warmth

Turn off all ambient lights and use only flash for clean, consistent lighting

Use the flash in strobe mode to create multiple exposures of the ambient light

You are trying to bounce flash off a ceiling, but the ceiling is very high (about 5 meters up) and dark brown. What problems will you encounter?

The flash will recycle too slowly and overheat

The dark surface absorbs much of the light (reducing its effectiveness), and the brown color will introduce a warm color cast into the bounced light

High ceilings cause the bounced light to arrive too slowly, creating motion blur

The flash will automatically switch to direct mode if the ceiling is too far away

What does 'dragging the shutter' mean in the context of flash photography?

Physically moving the camera during a long exposure while the flash fires

Using a slower shutter speed than the flash sync speed to allow ambient light to register in the exposure, blending flash-lit subjects with ambient-lit backgrounds

Firing the flash multiple times during a single long exposure

Setting the shutter to second-curtain sync mode for rear-flash timing

At an indoor event, your fill flash portraits look natural and well-balanced. But when you move to a different part of the room that has mirrored walls behind the subjects, the flash exposure suddenly looks too bright. What is happening?

The mirrors are reflecting the flash back into the lens, causing flare

The reflective surface behind the subjects is bouncing flash light back, and in TTL mode the meter may not compensate correctly for the increased reflectivity

The mirrors are confusing the autofocus, causing incorrect exposure

The electrical charge from the mirrors is interfering with the flash circuitry

Search

Intermediate Photography Lesson 6 Quiz | Test Your Knowledge

Continue Learning

Explore by Topic

Continue Learning

Intermediate Photography Lesson 1 Quiz | Test Your Knowledge

Intermediate Photography Lesson 2 Quiz | Test Your Knowledge

Intermediate Photography Lesson 3 Quiz | Test Your Knowledge

Image Resolution and File Sizes Quiz – Test Your Photography Knowledge

Explore by Topic