You are using a spot meter here, but you must not have focused and exposed on those white prayer boards. The result is burnout that draws the eye away from the interaction of the two young monks or novices here. If you had focused and exposed on that large burned out patch of prayer board, this image would be striking -- the white area would become as dark as the prayer boards at center are now. The other prayer boards would become darker, as would the monks. The resulting image would then be build around the illuminated child at right and the prayers that are now burned out. The rest of the image would gradually fade into atmospheric darkness.
