Newbie with some questions...(G3)

Hello all. I am a senior in high school and have decided to do Digital Photography as my Senior Project. I thought about taking many pictures of my car, friend's cars, family's cars, etc and then typing up a lengthy paper on how a digital camera works and how one compares to a traditional film camera.

I am using a Canon G3 and am slowly learning some things about it. I have broken out the tripod for steadier pictures, found out what each feature on the top dial are for...except for the P, Tv, Av, M, C1, and C2. What are each for, and how are they used?

So far, I have just been going out on my days off of work and shooting some shots in decent looking locations, trying to get used to the camera but one thing I really want to do it take night time shots. How is this done? What settings should the camera be set on? I have tried taking a few pics but they turned out terrible.

Any tips, techniques, or help on using this great camera would be much appreciated!
Thanks, Tyler.

P, Tv, Av, M, are the basic photo modes on any camera, program, shutter-priority, aperture-priority, and manual. It would take a while to explain, and it's better explained in thousands of books and sites than we could do it here. To understand them, you must learn how a camera works and how different settings affect the results, and again, ANY book about photography (other than the most basic point-and-shoot book) should explain them very well with diagrams and such. Hit the library and check out some books, no matter how old, the basics are the basics and it's irrelevant whether it's a digital or film camera.

once you understand the functions and relationships between aperture, shutter speed, and ISO (film speed), everything will become pretty clear and you'll understand what you need to do to get good night shots.

I'm not trying to cop out of giving you an explanation or helping you, i'd love to help, but your question is so general that I think you'd be better served by reading up and then hitting us up with more questions about how to apply these principles to the G6 and digital photography.

The manual, while pretty clearly written, assumes some knowledge of photographic theory and terminology, so i guarantee you if you can just find one book about these things and then study that in combination with the manual, everything will become much clearer and I'd be happy to help out with the specifics.

If your school (or a local community college or rec center) offers a darkroom class (few do these days) it'll help immensely, even with digital photography, especially because it'll give you great perspective about the benefits of digital photography. : )

Bryan

Oh, and C1 and C2 are programmable modes where you can set up your favorite settings and then jump to them quickly, it's a great feature, but until you program them, they're pretty useless.

Bryan

Dear 5.7L (sounds like my old 1986 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham).

Regarding P, Av and Tv only. Short course in exposure control.

#1 rule - if any shutter speed or aperture display is red or blinking, take note - it's not working to give you a proper exposure.

#2 rule - don't use any higher ISO than you have to use - as a last resort use Auto ISO

Av means you arbitrarily pick an aperture and the camera will do its best to adjust the shutter speed to give correct exposure. Be carefull about #1.

Tv means you arbitrarily pick a shutter speed and the camera will do its best to adjust the aperture to give correct expsosure. Be careful about #1.

P means you might as well be in full AUTO because you don't get to pick anything - the camera will do its best to adjust the aperture to give correct expsosure. Be careful about #1.

That's not entirely true, you have no control over aperture or shutter speed, but you can turn the flash on or off and change white balance, adjust the exposure or flash sliders, change metering and focusing modes, and lots of other features that are unavailable in AUTO mode.

P is a good first step to use instead of AUTO to learn about all those things, gives you a lot of control while not allowing you to screw up your photos too badly. : )

I rarely use AUTO and generally shoot in P because I like having those options. If i'm trying to freeze motion or blur motion, I use Tv, if I'm trying to blur out a background or be sure to keep everything in the field of focus, I use Av.

Bryan

Sorry, Bryan, I was taking his question as regarding exposure level only, and as you may have noticed, I HATE flash

5.7, I don't know how serious you want to get about this but Dennis Curtain offers an excellent book ($25) on the Canon G3 and it covers all the basics of photography, the functional details of the G3 and basic shot composition.

The G3 is a great camera. At a minimum download/print the OM if you don't already have access to it.

Take care.

Advice - I caqn't give you any for your project.

Advice - for photography - composition, composition and composition!!