More home schooling for me… trying to understand the impact of aperture and shutter speed on the quality of a photograph. For those not familiar with the basics, there are three settings that can be adjusted to get the right amount of light to fall on 35mm film: the speed of the film (ISO), the size of the gap the light can pass through (aperture), and the amount of time the light can reach the film (shutter speed). The film speed (ISO) is dictated by the film and dialled into the camera. It can be fiddled with, but really that’s what the shutter speed and the aperture are for. High shutter speeds can freeze fast moving scenes but the aperture may need to be opened a bit to compensate. Small apertures will put more of the image in focus (this is called depth of field), but need longer shutter speeds to allow enough light in.
I can hear photography experts wincing at my descriptions. Bear with me, I’m an amateur, trying to learn.

My camera, a Pentax MX from the 1970s, doesn’t have any auto-magical settings but it does have a very reliable light meter. The light meter has little red, amber, green lights to warn me if I’m under- or over-exposed by a little or a lot. Things I’m learning:
- I can have the correct exposure at several different aperture and shutter speed combinations, for example I may have a good exposure at shutter speed 1/1000th of a second and aperture of f/5.6, but get the same good exposure at a shutter speed of 1/30th of a second and aperture of f/22. The photographs are going to be different: richness of colour, the depth of field, and the brightness of the sky are all changed in some way.
- Some parts of the scene may need to be under-exposed to stop other parts of the scene from being over-exposed. For example, if I want the colours of the sky to be well represented, I may have to meter the sky rather than the street – and I may have to find a compromise.
- A large aperture gives a shallow depth of field, which guides the eye to the subject of the photograph and blurring out the rest. However, some depths of field are so shallow that nothing is in focus.
- A small aperture keeps a lot of the photograph in focus, but doesn’t let much light through, meaning I need a slower shutter speed, which might also lead to blurring if I move while taking the image. I may need to use a tripod more for photographs at the extremes of aperture, such as f/1.4 and f/22.
I used a roll of film to take multiple photographs of several scenes with different shutter speed and aperture settings to see if I could see the difference. Here is the whole roll with my records and reflections…


Hiding in the hedgerow beside the reservoir, I feel that the smaller aperture and slower shutter speed has given me more detail in the foreground trees. The risk was blur, but I seem to have held my camera okay.



Three shots of the same cottage beside the canal, showing that for the correct exposure there really are multiple combinations of aperture and shutter speed that give a good exposure. I feel that all three of these images has worked well and it gives me confidence in the flexibility available if I am trying to capture a shot quickly.


The focus was the barbed wire, and there is a distinct difference with these close up shots. The wider aperture has given me more colour in the background and also drawn my eye to the subject.


In these two images, the shed at the back of the scene was the main subject, but with a small aperture it has been lost in the darkness suggesting I didn’t meter correctly. The first image had a wider aperture and for that reason the nearer windows are blurred – however I think it works better as a photograph due to the exposure being better.


At first glance there isn’t much between these two photographs, but then I notice that the wider lens has given me a richer depth of colour at the loss of definition. The second photograph has more detail but feels less rich.



It was an early Sunday morning in Devon and I was being alert to traffic. There was a long straight stretch of road behind me and I could see there were no cars, but I kept myself safe while framing this shot – always checking over my shoulder. The second of the three had the smallest aperture, and came out best I think – this was a challenge because there was not a lot of light and I had to use a shutter speed of 1/15th of a second. I used the self-timer on the camera to trigger the shutter, which allowed me to keep my elbows tucked in and steady. At f/1.4 the whole scene has lost focus.


These beach huts are not the picture I wanted. Behind me was a shallow boating lake full of pedalos in the shape of cars… but I couldn’t bring myself to point the camera at them. I have a lot to learn about the courage of street photography. Anyway, there wasn’t much between these two photographs, except that the wider aperture seems to have given me more detail in the clouds.


The narrow aperture of the second photograph makes more sense here where it is the whole scene I want to share, rather than one small part of it. I don’t know if I’m getting vignetting at wider apertures.


It was howling a gale on the cliff-tops and traffic was quite scary as I cycled from Bude heading south. This view of the coast opened out dramatically and I loved it. The clouds were darkening as the day drew on, and I like both of these photographs. There is more details to the waves with a narrow aperture, but the clouds really have an ominous colour in the first.


A shipping container from which take-away Mexican food is served… in Cornwall. Mexi-Kernow! I think there was a better colour to the first image, but the settings were not sufficiently different to make much change. Overall the narrower aperture maybe works better.


The Snail Cafe is at the top of the Camel Trail near Wenford Bridge in Cornwall, and their scone, cream and jam is utterly delicious. I like both these photographs and once again I’m encouraged that in good light I don’t need to be too precious about settings, especially in the middle of the lens’s capability.


These two photographs demonstrate that setting can be critically important, and that f/1.4 should be used with caution. There was nothing moving in the scene, so the 1/30th of a second shutter speed was fine. I wondered if I could have used a slower shutter speed and the self-timer to get a narrower aperture.



These train track photographs were taken on a very sunny day and the experiment was slightly different… I altered the ISO setting on the camera. The film speed was ISO 200, and I took three images, one at ISO 220, another at ISO 200 and the last at ISO 160 – to see how much of an impact changing the ISO from the film speed makes a difference. I can see the images getting slightly brighter… so I assume that the camera is allowing more light to the film. I think this means that I could perhaps use a narrow aperture, and a slightly faster shutter speed if I lower the ISO. I may have to think about this some more.


I like both these photographs, but the quicker shutter speed and wider aperture seems to have given me more colour in this instance. Certainly the display is clearer, and there’s nothing in the background to worry about depth of field.


My final two photographs from the roll of film… MIND THE GAP… and the thoughtfulness of this whole exercise. I had to keep a diary with me and make a deliberate note of every camera setting for each photograph. It was time consuming and, in addition, this exercise of blogging about it has been mindful and time consuming. Once again the wider aperture has given more colour… what have I learned?
Learning outcomes
- Wide apertures can give me greater colour and richer photographs, but if I go too wide my depth of field become very shallow and it is easy to have my subject out of focus. Wide apertures do not work for landscape photographs, but a wider aperture gives more colour… so trying to be wide-but-not-too-wide may be the key to landscapes.
- Narrow apertures and slower shutter speeds are not the problem I thought they were. I can get away with quite slow shutter speeds, especially if I tuck my elbows in an use the self-timer.
- The ISO setting is important but not critical. In difficult situations I may be able to use it to get a faster shutter speed. I may need to think about this some more.
All photographs were taken with a Pentax MX camera, an SMC 50mm f/1.4 lens, and Harman Pheonix ISO 200 colour film. Settings were recorded in my Bullet Journal as I took each picture. Photographs were developed (and printed) by Analogue Wonderland.