Hello!! Canon Powershot S30

[Denny]

Hello im new to this board.

I recently got a Canon PowerShot S30 with my mom paying for almost all of it. It's a really cool camera and I did a lot of research before buying it. The best feature about it is the Tv mode where I can take night shots at ISO 50! Its soo fun using a digital camera. This is my first time using a camera (yes my very first time) and Im starting to run out of stuff to take. I want to take underwater pictures but I don't know how to scuba dive, don't really have any nice underwater places near by other than my 10 gallon aquarium, and the waterproof case cost too much for me to afford.

Do you peopel have any super duper cool techniques to share with me? So far, the 15 seconds capture thing for night shots is the only neat thing I know of.

Also, why does my flash look so ugly? I never take pictures with my flash because it's so ugly for every shot on every flash setting.

[Maverick]

Hi, I don't know what I can offer for "super duper cool" techniques, but as to the flash, by ugly do you mean overexposed? (lots of bright white in the picture).
For that I'd recommend using P, Av, or Tv on the mode wheel and pressing the exposure comp/whitebalance/etc. button 4 times, until you reach flash exposure compensation. Try setting this down to
-2/3, it cuts the flash power and helps make flash photos look better IMHO.

-Ben
http://www.pbase.com/maverick55

[Denny]

hmmm
I've tried setting the flash lower but it still gives a washed-out look to it. I don't even use the flash now. For nightshots, I use the TV thing. Setting the flash lower does give better results though.

[Rustle]

Shutter Priority mode (Tv) will give you better results in the picture, but only if nothing is moving. I usually try to fill the room with as much indirect light as possible by turning on every lamp around me, then powering down the flash a bit to avoid overexposure. It takes awhile to figure out, but once you do it'll be easy. Don't give up on it, yet...figuring out this stuff is the benefit of a digital camera over film.

Russ