Wow, way to hijack Woodct's thread guys :^)

First, Hello Woodct and my apologies if the welcome wagon ride into the forum was a little bumpy! Nonetheless thanks for posting and now to answer your original question.

I think Willis did a good job of already explaining what exposure compensation does in each mode. Since your new to all this silliness I'd suggest you start off by just using P (program) mode on your D80. If your pictures are not bright enough for you then move the exposure +/- up a few notches until your happy with what you get.

Take pictures and only adjust exposure +/- and enjoy what you get with your camera for a while. When you feel like experimenting put the camera in A (aperture) mode and reset your exposure compensation to 0. Adjust only the aperture. Now see how that effects your images. When you get a handle of how aperture works then go back to adjusting the exposure compensation along with aperture.

Don't overwhelm yourself trying to understand every aspect of photography all at once. It will only confuse you. It's best to take it all step by step. Forget about flash compensation for now too.

So I suggest learning about your camera in this order.

1. Program mode with exposure comp (just go out and enjoy your new camera)
2. Aperture mode with everything else reset to 0 (understand how this effects your photos)
3. Shutter mode with everything reset to 0 (look for some fast action shots)
4. White balance adjustments (understand how this effects the color of your photos)
5. ISO manual adjustments (now it's going to get complicated but just keep shooting)
6. flash compensation (take pictures of objects with reflective surfaces to better understand what this does)
7. Finally once you have a good understanding of all the above, go for M (manual) mode.

Hope this helps you Woodct.

I'm having difficulties starting the new thread for the Wiki suggestions.
Actually this post is just to test whether I can post at all :)

EDIT:
OK, I can post, but when I attempted to make a new thread in the Nikon Wiki section, I got a green bb-screen with the message: Topic not found.

@adamz, could you start two topics for me in the Nikon Wiki forum: "NR PhotoWiki (WIP)" and "NR PhotoWiki discussion" then I'll post my stuff there.

Reasons that I ask.
1. No way to ask who??
2. Just want the pros' Experience

Just day by day, step by step to learn.

Anyways, thank you for everyone.

I see what you mean. I've been kicking around doing something like this on my own. I've found that while there is lots of good data out there, it takes a lot of digging around to find the good stuff. Even if you know where to go, it can still be tough to find what you are looking for (strobist being a great example).

No Willis, it wouldn't consist of ordinary forum threads but it would be more like a separate ordinary web page. That we can link for newbies or why not go though ourselves. Moving threads will often mean that there will be a lot of useless information and discussions. What I had in mind was more like a resource centre divided into subjects.

You want information about lighting, you will be referred to the strobist site (among others), you want information on composition, there will be links to sites and books about composition. The same for different types of photography, camera tests, reviews, lens tests and reviews. I will soon be at home and I can make a draft version of it.

We have a local forum where this resource is handled in a form of a forum thread and it is several pages long so actually finding anything takes time and there is no order.

We already have a Wiki Section in the forums... It isn't really being used at the moment.

The problem with reclassifying the threads is that by the time we get done with a question, we rarely finish on the same topic as the original post LOL.

Sorry, I wasn't clear.
I thought that we would start it off as a separate thread and anyone here who has links or books worth mentioning will post them there. From there one person will gather the information and sort it into one Wiki. That person could be whoever has the time and wants to do it but I don't think that there should be a huge number of people filling in the Wiki ... might create confusion.

monty - I think it is a good idea, was thinking about something similar - grouping answers to the basic questions in one place - but Your wiki is a better option IMHO - but I'll see it not as a separate thread, but a completely new section, like wikipedia

admin - can You add wiki section to this site?

@Woodct ... I don't know how this works in your country, but here if you bought the camera new then you also receive a Nikon School coupon where they teach you the basics of using the camera. If you purchased the camera second hand, then get in contact with Nikon's representative in your country and find out if you have Nikon School there or not. Try to find out if there are any other courses. Reading a book or a form is one thing, having someone show it to you is another.

In the meanwhile open the Ken Rockwell user manual and read that. Or use the search function to find "exposure compensation" and read those bits for starters.

EDIT: This thread has got me thinking ... perhaps we should make a WIKI on this site with full texts or better yet links to different resources on the basics of photography, be it wikipedia, Thom Hogan, Ken Rockwell or Bryan Peterson, Strobist, etc. This would act as a nice starting point to beginners who will also be visiting this site hoping to find some guidance in their photographic adventures. Maybe even our present readers will find some interesting reading materials there. I don't know how NR will see it, but I also suggest mentioning books by different authors (Ansel Adams, Michael Langford, Bryan Peterson, Paul Gallagher, David Rosenfeld, etc.) I'm sure that the authors won't mind if their books are recommended.

adamz and NR, if you think this is a good idea, then we should perhaps start this off with a separate thread where our members can contribute by giving links and if it is so decided names of books that might be interesting to beginners, amateurs or even pros. I've spent a pretty penny on a wide variety of books over the past two years and there are quite a few among them that I would recommend, and of course some I won't :)

I don't even want to imagine shooting events back in the film days. How terrible would it be to get back from a wedding shoot with all your shots overexposed. Bridezilla would not be happy.

I'm sure you get used to it after a while, or maybe you just have to be very conservative about how you choose your settings. For me at least, my entire shooting process is based around instant feedback.

My Son is 9 Years old and have taken lots of great pictures with his D80 (my backup). With flash, manual settings, over/under exposure etc. Now he has newer actual been reading the instruction manual but he is not afraid to try and see what will happen if you do this or that. That is the beauty of Digital, you get instant feedback.

I learned to shot a SLR in the old film days and there was no instant feedback. Just Yesterday I shot a Family picture of about 50 people, at dusk. I used flash (-.3) and ended up using 400 ISO and the background was properly exposed. I have done the same in film days and ended up with dark underexposed backgrounds.

So my advise to you is to get out there use that D80 of yours

Pete

or You could always post the same on the Dpreview forum (or similar forums) and let the lions lose at you, Monty was very kind to you in comparison to how many others would have been.

@ woodct : I have been thinking about your problem.. I think a more general solution is that you may want to take it slow. I dont know every knob and button on my DSLR( and I have been an amateur photographer for 30 years). Just work with what you know already and take photos! The D80 has got all those wonderful modes that will allow you to take nice photos without all the manual adjustment. Leave the manual adjustment for a few years down the track. Just learn to use the modes first.. Read books ! Then after a few months/years you can learn to duplicate those modes in manual adjustments!.The top cameras don't have those nice modes. Then you start spending big $$$ for the top of the range cameras !! LOL

"The information you need has been provided to you...If you read the
information and ask more specific information then the guys here that are
providing advice for free to you would see that you have made some effort
and then are more willing to sacrifice their time in understanding your
questions and giving of their time/life to help you."

couldn't said it better hearty, and as monty wrote - guys please use search engines (the one on this forum is really good), and don't post questions like: How to use this button? when all the info about that is in manual, moreover if You do a little bit of googling, than You can find almost every manual in pretty much all the languages from countries where Nikon sells it's stuff.

Sorry Monty11, ok friend.

Manual is not tell us much about the result or example. I would say it like a text book, which there are no pictures.

I ask the question because I feel it is so complicated. In my senario, on the fucus in P mode, the bar in the view finder, bring up the + value, if I take the shot, it will over exposure, then, i have to adjust EV value to bring the bar to the middle point (mostly). Am I right??

@Woodct ... you don't sound like English is your mother tongue ... try to get a user manual in your language ... we have them in Estonian and there's only 1.3 million of us. The best bet would be locating local photography sites or emailing a photostore and asking them.

@ Woodct : The Internet has always been like this. You are probably new
to the internet as well as photography. Actually this place is probably
one of the nicest places. We just need to calm down and be polite. Words
on a web page does not include 90 % of the information that gets passed
between 2 people when they are talking face to face so its very easy
to misunderstand each other. So relax .. take a deep breath and release
some of our ego.. and we can all play nice. :-)

The information you need has been provided to you...If you read the
information and ask more specific information then the guys here that are
providing advice for free to you would see that you have made some effort
and then are more willing to sacrifice their time in understanding your
questions and giving of their time/life to help you.

Thats just how the forums work..

http://www.albion.com/netiquette/
http://www.atra-tr.org/netetiquette.htm

Ok. I am not a smort guy, Monty11. However, I forgave you.

I believe in the manual, may have print on it, but I may not understand them.
I just ask because I would like to learn as a beginner, don't know how to start.

Thanks for folk to let me know.
if here, there is only ego, no knowledgable to talk, I sorry.

hmmm so which is better nikon, canon or pentax?

:-)

RTFM.

referring to another thread:
seba316 says:
"@monty11 Sorry for the rude comment on the other thread. I may be a bit sensitive since I'm asking "dumb" questions all the time. Just got my first dslr a few weeks ago... "

no offense taken ... "dumb" questions are always welcome, especially if you have had a go at what is written on the subject on the web or looked at the videos or read books and you just can't get the point why something is how it is.

I apologise if I got too rude in my own post. I guess it is a habit I've picked up on the local forums that have a history going back to the beginning of 2000. There most subjects have been discussed to pieces and a simple search will bring up a lot of reading material. It is only natural to get irritated when people post the same questions (mainly which is better Nikon, Canon or Pentax) without trying to search first. Here the huge knowledgebase hasn't had time to accumulate yet but in the present case it was just a matter of reading the user manual and even if some people don't like Ken, I really don't think that it would harm a novice to read his user manual. He does know a fair deal about photography and there is no ultimate truth, but this is already a part of another thread on KR.

No, I don't plan on getting lost, not just yet ;)

I don't mind questions (beginner or advanced) either, but buying a camera, a first DSLR as I gather and not even reading the user manual ... sorry, but in my book that is just lazy. Getting to know a DSLR and all that surrounds it is hard work that takes a lot of reading and that should start from the user manual and Photography ABC courses or books. The web is also bulging with information. Just go and get it.

Its always doing one of them. That's why it doesn't work in Manual mode... there isn't anything for it to adjust.

In Aperture priority it makes images brighter by choosing a longer shutter speed. In Shuttter priority, it makes them brighter by choosing a larger aperture. (Opposite for darker images of course.

Higher ISO's will make an image brighter without changing aperture or shutter speed, but then you get noise.

Ultimately, you've got to have light hitting a sensor. You can either add more light (aperture), or add the same amount of light for a longer time (shutter speed), or make the sensor more sensitive to light (ISO).

Willis, I thought exposure compensation didn't change aperture, shutter and ISO. Exposure compensation I thought was something electronic. At least that's what the last episode of Nikon DTown had said.

By the way, DTown also said that exposure compensation doesn't work in M (manual).

Again, I quote the last episode of Nikon DTown.

And I don't mind these questions- that's the whole point of a forum. By the way, the moderator can move this to the Wiki section if he wants. I think it belongs in there more.

@monty11

"I'm sorry but I don't have a lot of respect for people who ask such elementary questions in a forum..."

Then get lost!

What where you expecting when you read: "Teach me..."

Exposure compensation makes the image brighter or darker by adjusting the shutter speed, aperture, or both. This effects the entire image (background and foreground).

Flash compensation adjusts the intensity of the flash. This will effect objects in the foregound (closer to the flash) more than it will objects in the background. Without flash, your entire picture will be lit by ambient light. If your background is far away from your subject, you can reduce the flashes intensity to allow for more ambient light to contribute to the subject. Otherwise, you will get a well lit subject, but just a black background.

You may also consider using the Slow Sync Flash Mode.

KR was the first to pop up ... perhaps I should have posted a different like: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=nikon+d80+manual

I'm sorry but I don't have a lot of respect for people who ask such elementary questions in a forum especially if those things have been explained in the user manual that came with the camera. I know that reading the user manual usually is against the male ego but sometimes they do contain useful information :P

I would suggest going to a well stocked book store and ask for Langford's Starting Photography or Langford's Basic Photography.