Monasteries in Burma are extremely dark, and when photographing subjects that move – such as young boys and candle flames -- it’s a tough call whether or not to use a tripod. Cameras today offer ultra high ISO settings, and even though digital noise is an unwanted side effect, hand holding the camera gives a photographer flexibility, mobility, and spontaneity.
Therefore, in this instance I opted to hand hold the camera. I set the ISO to 6400, I used a lens aperture of f/4, and I set the shutter speed to 1/20. I turned the image stabilitation feature on my 24-105mm Canon lens, and that allowed me to get a sharp picture at this very slow shutter. I used the luminance slider in Adobe Camera Raw to minimize the noise, and it did an excellent job. For the exposure in this very tricky lighting situation, I took a test shot and examined the LCD monitor. I then used the exposure compensation feature to tweak the exposure until I was happy with it. My white balance was set to tungsten (indoor or incandescent). AWB or daylight made the picture too red.