What effect does increased filtration have on the x-ray beam?

Increased filtration in an x-ray beam serves to remove low-energy, less penetrating photons from the beam, which in turn reduces the overall number of x-ray photons that can reach the detector or the patient. This reduction in number is what is referred to as a decrease in beam quantity.

Filtration is used to enhance image quality by allowing only higher-energy x-rays to pass through that contribute to the diagnostic quality of the image, while filtering out lower-energy photons that would contribute to patient dose without improving image quality. Thus, while filtration effectively increases beam quality by improving its penetrative ability, the overall intensity or quantity of x-ray photons is diminished. This makes the correct answer focus on the impact of filtration on beam quantity rather than quality or intensity.