Canon S3is Point and Shoot. Amateur Photography...

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Ok, my parents got a Canon S3is about a week ago. I have taken around 30 pics so far. We spent $530 USD on it, which bought the camera and a 1GB Kingston Card. SD card alone was $80. =/

I'm interested in Photography, which is why I wish my parents would have grabbed the SLR I was looking at for slightly less. They told my parents about the lifetime warranty on the SD Card and my dad was like, can that internet order site (Newegg) do that!? Didn't think so!

Uhh, actually they can so he got ripped $50.

Any suggestions? I have taken a few pictures, some on Manual or Custom, some on Auto. Usually use Auto outside for those quick shots.

 

[F1GTR]

Use P (program) on quick snapshots. Gives you more control than auto, so you can set exposure compensation, colour modes etc.

 

[TB]

Get used to only shooting in full Manual mode. It will take you a while to get all the settings figured out, but ultimately you'll have a better experience shooting than you will using Auto.

For some ideas on what settings to use in different circumstances, check out dpreview's Sample Gallery or Flickr's S3 IS page.