noob seek help! fix the kecak dance

[keriangandunia]

hello i'm totally new to photography. i have no formal education in fotography whatsoever. i just simply love it.
i just got back from bali and there i watched a trad dance called "kecak". it was done in dawn, so the lighting was so poor. and i dont have speedlites or anything, just a d70 kit. i love how the fire was captured in this pic (i admit it was purely luck), but since i've been reading the forums for quite some time, i know u guys have better visions :cool:

the only edit that i did to the pic is resizing. what do you think?

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd292/keriangandunia/DSC_0205.jpg

oh i have some questions, and since i dont know where to post, i'll ask them here. hehe if u dont mind:

1) how do u guys really remember the settings for each pic taken? i change mine for almost every shots!

2) i have no idea what spot-metering, white balance & bokeh are. can anyone briefly explain? or can u recommend any good websites that might help. i tried to read some but still my mind doesn't register :?

thank you all in advance! :)

[ND40]

spot metering is how the camera meter the exposure. Spot as it called as. A very small portion. While center weighted meter a larger area compared to spot.

White balance is to tell the camera that white color is now white color. Let say now you under the yellow light. The white color paper under it. The paper will be yellowish. So when you take the picture without setting to the right white balance, it will turn out yellow rather than white.

Bokeh, if i'm not mistaken it is a Japanese word. Simply means shallow depth of focus. Meas background blur kaw kaw like kopi o kaw peng.

Correct me if i'm wrong...

[ShaolinTiger]

1) how do u guys really remember the settings for each pic taken? i change mine for almost every shots!

We don't, it's contained in the picture and called EXIF - it's a kind of metadata. For example the picture you attached tells me this:

Camera Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Camera Model: NIKON D70
Image Date: 2007:11:24 19:05:21
Flash Used: No
Focal Length: 44.0mm (35mm equivalent: 66mm)
Exposure Time: 0.0050 s (1/200)
Aperture: f/4.5
Exposure Bias: 1.67
White Balance: Auto
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: Manual
Exposure Mode: Manual

You can read more here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exif

http://www.digicamhelp.com/learn/glossary/exif.php

2) i have no idea what spot-metering, white balance & bokeh are. can anyone briefly explain? or can u recommend any good websites that might help.

You can read the different metering modes in your manual, basically speaking matrix meters the whole frame in different areas and takes an average exposure, spot metering just meters a small area (3-6%) of the frame and bases the exposure on that.

More here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metering_mode

White balance is to do with colour temperature, our eyes have very accurate 'auto' white balance, so we don't see colour in light. But cameras don't so you have to tell it what colour the light is (from warm to cool) to render it as accurate.

More here:

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/white-balance.htm

http://www.photoxels.com/tutorial_white-balance.html

Bokeh is just the quality of the out of focus area.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokeh

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/bokeh.htm

There's some good resources to start learning here:

http://www.shutterasia.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4456

[karheng]

Understanding the fundamentals of these settings will give you an idea of how u want your photo to be recorded.

ST has listed lots of good sites there..Read all these and u will probably understand it a bit better.

Ultimately, practise makes perfect. And having fun will always help you improve!

[keriangandunia]

wow that was lightning fast!!
thanks everybody. i'm still reading and trying to understand more. looking forward to improve myself :redface: . i need to master the basics first!
thanks a million! :partyon: