A radiographic image with few gray tones, primarily black and white, has which type of contrast?

• A. Long scale
• B. Short scale
• C. Low
• D. High

Answer: (B)

Contrast in radiography refers to how many gray tones appear in the image. An image that displays only a few gray tones—mostly black and white—has high contrast, which is described as short-scale contrast. This occurs when there’s a large difference in density between adjacent structures, so transitions are abrupt and intermediate gray shades are limited. A long-scale (low-contrast) image would show many gray tones, not just a few. So the described image fits short-scale contrast.