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Photography Basics

Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. A complementary color is one of a pair of primary or secondary colors that are in opposition to each other on a color wheel.






2. A lens aperture setting calibrated to an f-number






3. When the lens is focused on infinity - the nearest point to the camera that is considered acceptably sharp is the Hyperfocal point. By focusing on the hyperfocal point - everything beyond it to infinity remains in acceptable focus - and objects halfw






4. Digital single lens reflex camera






5. Refers to a million pixels - and is used in describing the number of pixels that a digital device's image sensor has.






6. The time an hour or less before the sun goes down and around fifteen minutes after the sun has set. Sunlight is usually warmer and more complimentary to skin tones at this time - and the angle of the light can provide depth to portraits and landscape






7. In a studio - the main light is placed fairly high - directly in front of the face - aimed at the center of the nose. It casts a shadow shaped like a butterfly beneath the nose.






8. Existing light surrounding a subject; the light that is illuminating a scene without any additional light supplied by the photographer. This is also called 'available light'.






9. A lens with the ability to focus from infinity to extremely closely - allowing it to capture images of tiny objects in frame-filling - larger-than-life sizes.






10. Occurs when an image editing program is used to change an image's size. Increasing an image's size requires the addition of new pixels and decreasing size removes pixels.






11. Refers to a million pixels - and is used in describing the number of pixels that a digital device's image sensor has.






12. Frames per second (fps) refers to the number of pictures that a camera is able to take in a second. A point-and-shoot camera typically shoots one or two pictures per second. Higher-end single lens reflex (SLR) cameras have much greater performance -






13. If you're hand holding your camera - your shutter speed should not be slower than the reciprocal of your effective focal length (but not lower than 1/50th of a second) in order to avoid 'camera shake -' i.e. the blur that results from any slight move






14. A lens in which focal length is variable. Elements inside a zoom lens shift their positions - enabling the lens to change its focal length - in effect - providing one lens that has many focal lengths. (Also called a 'Variable focus lens.')






15. Adding new pixels to a digital image between existing pixels. Interpolation software analyzes the adjacent pixels to create the new ones when enlarging an image file.






16. An accessory that attaches as a collar to the front of a lens to prevent stray light from striking the surface of the lens - causing flare






17. An image file type created in Adobe PhotoShop that results in pictures that are viewable with Adobe Acrobat - so someone (Mac or PC-user) who doesn't have PhotoShop can still view the image. It is often used in forms creation and for documents that r






18. Tagged Image File Format - A standard digital image format for bitmapped graphics in an uncompressed state. The image files are much larger than compressed files - but can be opened in all image-processing programs.






19. A form of image compression when saving the image that discards data from it. Saving a picture as a JPEG uses lossy compression.






20. Any device used to reflect light onto a subject.






21. A shutter speed dial setting that indicates that the shutter will remain open as long as the release button is depressed - also known as the 'B setting ' or 'Bulb' setting. The 'B' setting is used for time exposures.

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22. A shutter speed dial setting that indicates that the shutter will remain open as long as the release button is depressed - also known as the 'B setting ' or 'Bulb' setting. The 'B' setting is used for time exposures.

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23. Adding new pixels to a digital image between existing pixels. Interpolation software analyzes the adjacent pixels to create the new ones when enlarging an image file.






24. Film speed or sensitivity is designated by a single - almost universally-accepted common system developed by the International Organization for Standardization which uses the initials 'ISO' before the film-speed number or digital camera's sensitivity






25. Occurs when the photographer incrementally lights an otherwise darkened scene using a handheld flashlight or other small light source while the shutter remains open during a time exposure. The light is added to the scene in the manner of an artist us






26. Lens with a focal length approximately equal to the diagonal of the film format or of a digital camera's image sensor. A scene viewed through a normal lens appears to have the same perspective as if it was being viewed 'normally' without a lens - jus






27. (Graphics Interchange Format) is a small image file format that supports transparency and is constrained to a maximum of 256 colors - generally making it a poor choice for your digital images. When it was created - most computer video cards were able






28. An image of a single color in differing shades. A black and white or sepia-toned image is a monochrome. Another monochromatic image is the cyanotype - or blue-green image made popular in blueprints.






29. The time an hour or less before the sun goes down and around fifteen minutes after the sun has set. Sunlight is usually warmer and more complimentary to skin tones at this time - and the angle of the light can provide depth to portraits and landscape






30. Frames per second (fps) refers to the number of pictures that a camera is able to take in a second. A point-and-shoot camera typically shoots one or two pictures per second. Higher-end single lens reflex (SLR) cameras have much greater performance -






31. Occurs when an image editing program is used to change an image's size. Increasing an image's size requires the addition of new pixels and decreasing size removes pixels.






32. An acronym for Joint Photographic Experts Group that describes an image file format standard in which the size of the file is reduced by compressing it. JPEG - with its 16.7 million colors - is well suited to compressing photographic images. A 'JPEG'






33. A fall-off in brightness at the edges of an image - slide - or print. Can be caused by poor lens design - using a lens hood not matched to the lens - or attaching too many filters to the front of the lens. It can also be applied after the image is ta






34. Digital single lens reflex camera






35. CMYK - An acronym for the ink colors Cyan (process blue) - Magenta (process red) - Yellow and Black used in four-color process printing.






36. Bokeh describes the rendition of out-of-focus points of light. Bokeh is different from sharpness. Sharpness is what happens at the point of best focus. Bokeh is what happens away from the point of best focus. Bokeh describes the appearance - or 'feel






37. A lighting technique that is sometimes used in studio portrait photography. It can be achieved using one light and a reflector - or two lights - and is popular because it is capable of producing images which appear both natural and compelling with a






38. Film speed or sensitivity is designated by a single - almost universally-accepted common system developed by the International Organization for Standardization which uses the initials 'ISO' before the film-speed number or digital camera's sensitivity






39. Any device used to reflect light onto a subject.






40. A contract in which a model consents to the use of his or her images by the photographer or a third party. Sometimes referred to simply as a 'release.'






41. Lens with a focal length approximately equal to the diagonal of the film format or of a digital camera's image sensor. A scene viewed through a normal lens appears to have the same perspective as if it was being viewed 'normally' without a lens - jus






42. Also known as the 'Kodak neutral test card -' a gray card is an 8' X 10' (20 cm by 25.5 cm) card - about 1/8' thick - that is uniformly gray on one side. The gray side reflects precisely 18% of the white light that strikes it (corresponding to the ca






43. The visible light spectrum is scientifically described in terms of color temperature - and is measured in degrees Kelvin (K). The range for Kelvin on a pro digital camera is approximately 2000-10000.. These K settings are the scientific numbers behin






44. A million bytes - abbreviated as MB - Mb and sometimes Mbyte. Technically and more precisely - it refers to 1 -048 -576 bytes. Digital images are often referred to in terms of their 'size in Mb'.






45. Or - electronic noise. This is the grainy look you find in a digital image caused by image artifacts. It is usually noticeable in shadow areas - and generally produced when shooting in low light. Noise is almost always unwanted and unattractive.






46. A lighting technique that is sometimes used in studio portrait photography. It can be achieved using one light and a reflector - or two lights - and is popular because it is capable of producing images which appear both natural and compelling with a






47. Commonly abbreviated as 'TTL'. Refers to both exposure metering of the light passing through the lens (Through-the-lens metering - and TTL flash metering) and viewing a scene through the same lens that allows light to reach the sensor or the film (Th






48. An accessory that attaches as a collar to the front of a lens to prevent stray light from striking the surface of the lens - causing flare






49. A complementary color is one of a pair of primary or secondary colors that are in opposition to each other on a color wheel.






50. A composition rule that divides the screen into thirds horizontally and vertically - like a tic-tac toe grid placed over the picture on a television set. Almost all of the important information included in every shot is located at one of the four int