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Many cameras have what is known as Auto Exposure Lock. Typically, you will not be using this feature for your average photograph.
This feature generally uses some type of "switch" that locks the exposure for the shot, after the initial reading has been made.
Normally, your camera determines the proper exposure automatically, based on several factors such as the lighting conditions, F-stop, and type of metering used.
By not "locking in" the exposure, the camera will re-calculate it, based on changes to the above factors.
Why is Camera Auto Exposure Lock important?
One of the main reasons you would want to use exposure lock is when taking a photograph of a scene with significant differences is shadow, light, and contrast. Depending upon the metering mode used, your camera will attempt to "average out" the exposure for the entire photo. Normally this is great. However, not every time.
For situations where you want to emphasize a specific part of the picture, or change the composition to get creative, an "averaged exposure" just won't do. You can also manually control the exposure through exposure compensation, but using that approach is pretty much trial and error.
That is why your camera auto exposure lock (or, "AE-Lock") should be the preferred method. It is far more accurate.
Another reason to use auto exposure lock is to "freeze" or "lock in" the same exposure parameters. When and if you become interested in "stitching together" several photos to create one large panorama, you will want to lock your exposure. When AE Lock is used, all settings for aperture, shutter speed, exposure and white balance are kept identical until you unlock them.
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