How does exposure compensation function in photography?

Exposure compensation is a feature in photography that allows the photographer to manually adjust the exposure level of an image to achieve the desired brightness. This adjustment can either increase or decrease the exposure, resulting in brighter or darker images depending on the creative intent or lighting conditions.

By utilizing exposure compensation, photographers can override the camera's automatic exposure settings when they find that the camera is not capturing the scene as they perceive it. For example, in high-contrast lighting conditions, such as when shooting against a bright background, the camera may underexpose the subject. In this case, the photographer can use exposure compensation to increase the exposure, ensuring the subject is adequately lit.

This option focuses on the core functionality of exposure compensation, which is to fine-tune the exposure that the camera determines, thus allowing for greater creative control over the final image. In contrast, the other options refer to different components of exposure control, such as automatic adjustments made by the camera (which may not provide the specific control needed), altering shutter speed or ISO sensitivity, which are separate settings entirely and do not directly relate to the concept of adjusting exposure levels manually.