The amount of highlights and shadows captured by the camera is called

• A. Contrast
• B. Saturation
• C. Exposure
• D. White Balance

Answer: (C)

Exposure is the amount of light that reaches the camera sensor during a shot. It directly controls how bright or dark the photo appears, which in turn determines how well details in the bright highlights and dark shadows are captured. If exposure is too high, highlights can blow out and lose detail; if it’s too low, shadows become overly dark and lose detail as well. This is different from contrast (the difference between light and dark areas), saturation (the intensity of colors), and white balance (color temperature adjustment to render whites correctly under different lighting). In practice, exposure is managed by the combination of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO.