Which term describes the overall brightness range captured in a photo?

• A. Contrast
• B. Exposure
• C. Saturation
• D. Color Temperature

Answer: (B)

Exposure is the amount of light recorded by the camera, which sets how light or dark the entire image appears. Adjusting exposure changes the overall brightness across the scene: more exposure brightens the photo, less exposure darkens it. This directly controls the range of brightness you see in the final image, helping preserve detail in both shadows and highlights when set correctly.

Contrast describes the difference between light and dark areas, saturation describes color intensity, and color temperature describes warmth or coolness of the light. Those aspects influence appearance, but they don’t determine the photo’s overall brightness the way exposure does.