Certified Professional Photographer (CPP) Practice Exam

Disable ads (and more) with a membership for a one time $2.99 payment

Prepare for the Certified Professional Photographer Exam. Study with flashcards and multiple choice questions, each with hints and explanations. Get ready for your certification!

Each practice test/flash card set has 50 randomly selected questions from a bank of over 500. You'll get a new set of questions each time!

Practice this question and more.


What is the function of a filter attached to the front of the lens?

  1. It enhances sharpness of the image.

  2. It compresses the dynamic range.

  3. It removes some of the wavelengths of light reflected by a scene.

  4. It adds a vignette effect.

The correct answer is: It removes some of the wavelengths of light reflected by a scene.

Filters play an important role in photography by influencing the light that enters the camera through the lens. The correct answer highlights one of the fundamental purposes of filters: they can selectively remove some wavelengths of light from the scene. This can serve numerous functions, such as reducing glare, enhancing color saturation, or correcting color casts. For instance, a polarizing filter is designed to remove reflections from non-metallic surfaces and boost the contrast in skies. Understanding how filters manipulate light is crucial for photographers aiming to achieve specific creative effects or to manage challenging lighting conditions. This ability to filter out certain wavelengths allows photographers to attain a more precise control over the image's final appearance, contributing significantly to the overall quality and impact of the photograph. The other options suggest functions that are either not typically associated with filters or are effects related to other aspects of photography. For example, sharpness generally comes from lens quality and camera settings rather than from the use of a filter. Similarly, compressing dynamic range is more closely related to how an image is captured and processed rather than a direct function of a filter. Adding a vignette effect is typically done in post-processing, although certain filters can cause vignetting unintentionally, which is an undesirable artifact rather than an intended effect.