Which aspect of photography does exposure compensation specifically affect?

Exposure compensation specifically affects the brightness of the photograph. When a photographer adjusts exposure compensation, they essentially tell the camera to either let more light in or reduce the amount of light that is captured. This adjustment is crucial because the camera's automatic settings may not always interpret the scene's lighting accurately. By increasing exposure compensation, the image will become brighter, effectively allowing more light to be recorded. Conversely, reducing exposure compensation will darken the image.

This focusing on brightness allows photographers to achieve the desired look for their images, especially in challenging lighting conditions, such as high-contrast scenes where manual adjustments might be necessary to avoid underexposure or overexposure. Other aspects, such as color saturation, focus, depth of field, texture, and grain, are influenced by different settings and techniques that do not directly relate to exposure compensation.