Ok, I lied. One more comment. Exposure bracketing is incredibly useful when you're not too sure of the best exposure. But it's also mighty cool for one other thing--image stacking. There are a lot of beautiful places out here that are very hard to photograph because of the dynamic range. A typical desert shot has things in full sun and things in the shade. It's hard--and sometimes impossible--to get a single exposure that gets it all. Here comes bracketing to save the day. I'll set up a bracket that gives me three exposures. One's the 'optimal' exposure. Another is two stops up and the last is two stops down. So I'll typically get a shot that's a little underexposed and one that's a little overexposed. Photoshop combines these photos into a single high-dynamic-range image, throwing away the under/overexposed data. You can then bring this into a displayable/printable range. The results can be stunning. Obviously a good tripod is required, but you might be able to find one somewhere around the house. I've done stacks like this with as many a 9-10 exposures. It's way cool. MC
Most cameras today have an exposure bracketing routine that works incredibly well. You simply invoke the routine on the camera (a few buttons) and the camera will take exposures on both sides of the "auto" setting.