How many questions are in this quiz?

This quiz has 117 questions covering hard light, soft light, and light direction in photography.

What format are the questions in?

Each question is multiple choice with 4 options, and there is no timer.

Can I choose the number of questions and difficulty?

Yes. You can pick your question count for a session and choose a difficulty level to match your comfort or challenge level.

What skills will I improve by taking it?

You’ll practice reading shadow edges, contrast, and catchlights to identify light quality and direction and make better lighting decisions.

What are common mistakes this quiz targets?

It helps you avoid mixing up brightness with hardness and forgetting how modifier size and distance change softness and shadow shape.

Light quality: hard, soft, and direction

About this quiz

What this quiz trains

Light quality is one of the fastest ways to level up your images, and this quiz focuses on the practical differences between hard light, soft light, and light direction.

Each question uses a 4-option multiple-choice format with no timer, so you can slow down and reason through shadows, contrast, and catchlights.

Skills you’ll practice

You’ll build the habit of predicting how a lighting choice affects skin, texture, and background separation, not just memorizing definitions.

You can choose how many questions to answer per session and select an easier or harder difficulty when you want to focus on fundamentals or push into trickier scenarios.

Telling hard vs. soft light by shadow edge, contrast, and specular highlights
Identifying direction (front, side, back, top) from facial shadows and catchlights
Understanding how modifier size and distance change softness
Using flags, diffusion, and bounce to control spill and shadow depth
Matching lighting direction to mood (dramatic, flattering, natural)

Common pitfalls (and how to avoid them)

Many photographers confuse “bright” with “hard” and “dim” with “soft”; this quiz keeps the focus on shadow transition and source size relative to the subject.

Another frequent mistake is ignoring distance: a small light close can look softer than a larger light far away, and the questions are designed to reinforce that relationship.

How difficulty is balanced

Mixed difficulty means you’ll see a blend of quick-identification items and scenario-based questions that require choosing the best lighting approach.

If you miss a question, use it as a cue to revisit the underlying cue (shadow edge, angle, or modifier choice) before moving on—there’s no timer pressure.