I disagree. While white balance, focus, and even flash control have improved to the point that beginners can safely ignore them to focus on composition, in my e

I disagree. While white balance, focus, and even flash control have improved to the point that beginners can safely ignore them to focus on composition, in my experience exposure compensation has lagged behind. Take SnapChat for example. It's a great gateway into photography, because it's fun and accessible. But god forbid you ever pose a subject against a white background. You're just looking at a grey mess with a dark blob in front of it. At least the camera app on my Motorola sprouted a compensation dial a couple years back. That made me very happy, and comfortable enough just to carry my phone around for casual photography. To mirror your reply, a perfectly composed picture where the subject is just a black blob against a generic blue sky exposed to middle grey is still a bad picture. I'm not disagreeing with your advice; but I don't think it's either-or.