Iain, I'm sorry but I won't answer your questions personally, there are many sites and articles that can help you with this.
And there is no perfect solution to your answer since every situation needs a different adjustment.
Since it can't be done gently I'm going to give you push into photography, if you know what it is and what's for you can answer your question yourself and know what to do in different situations.

Here is one about the white balance.
link
My suggestion would be to leave it on auto since it appears to work very good. Indoors they might be problematic, if you find the colours not correct then, us then Tungsten light or fluores light.

About metering since you asked about EV compensation, that is part of the metering system. EV compensation is the last part of the article.
link
Looks like that works also very good, the link will explain everything you would need to know. Also when you might need to use EV compensation.

And I quote a piece about ISO.
ISO – International Standard Organization a.k.a. ASA American Standard Association. The sensor's sensitivity is actually the amount of amplification of the signal from the sensor. Every sensor has a base sensitivity in which it provides the 'cleanest' photo, and each increase in that sensitivity will shorten the exposure and produce a noise side affect. In low light conditions it's recommended to use higher ISO, but in general lower ISO is recommended for avoiding this "noise"

I hope you can find your answer, if things aren't clear after reading don't be afraid to ask. We would explain it further to you till you understand.


If you wander what went wrong with the photos you posted.

#1 Looks soft due to camera movement, the camera settings looks fine though.
You probably just move it while pressing the button.

#2 Looks like a focus problem, the camera didn't focus correctly on the car.

#3 the same thing a focus problem.
The camera has a tendency to focus on the thing closest to you.
I don't have your camera but maybe you can use a more selective focus mode where you can aim point it needs to focus on?

That nobody commented

I find it quite a refreshing photo, Jackie.
Too bad of the noise of in the out of focus blur but other then that I like it.

No problem Will, I didn't uploaded it but linked your upload to this page as an photo.

I'm at home now and the photo is darker here then it was on my parents screen.
Since you have shot it in raw you would have some room to improve the exposure just like you said.
In photoshop you could add a photo filter layer with a warm filter to warm her a bit up if you get my drift

You can also duplicate the image and use all kind of layer options for some effects.
Simply try them out and see what work and what not, that basicly the way I work

ps. I got another tip.
Jewellery is something you need to be careful with using it, it draws a lot of attention. This isn't really the case with this photo but keep an eye out for that when shooting portraits next time.

Sounds like a good name... although I would like a female name, I think it's better to call things you like a she.

Greytop, how do you find the DA*16-50.
I find it quite a lot of money for the image quality it delivers, although the build quality seems very good.
my eye is now on the tammy 17-50...
Could you maybe temp me from the darkside with some photo's wide open?
Would be interested to see how the bokeh is.

I think Amin is selling his Pentax DFA 100mm

DA15 limited, hasn't been named yet.... why not, any reasons?

Might the DA* 16-50 do, it's a f/2.8 if that makes it more tempting?
If not the 17-70 is some what the replacement of the 16-45 and the DA 17-70 has some sealing (lens mount at least) but isn't weather proof though.

It would surely be interesting to see more WR lenses from Pentax.

You mean hosting a website right, a website you made yourself?

Something like private and public isn't at the order then I believe.

They simply rent you space on their server and you pay a part of the use of the server, electricity and internet traffic.

What is the best way to store a lens btw?