Do you stick with everything on "auto" or do you play around with the settings? Have you found any settings that prove to take great pictures?

I'm one to always have problems figuring out what settings I need for indoor or outdoor, for close up or for far away, from movement to standing still.  Anyone want to add any tips?

I'm the same way with our P&S cameras, most of the time it sits in auto. If I need fill-flash (in an environment the camera doesn't feel it needs the flash), I'll flip over to P and engage the flash. If I need to shoot in challenging conditions, the DSLR comes out, and that rarely ever sees any of the auto settings.

Settings really depend on a number of factors, and there aren't necessarily one set of settings that work from camera to camera. It depends on the environment you're shooting in (subject, lighting, motion, etc) and what type of camera (quality of lens, low light capability, etc). If it's a DSLR, the type and speed of the lens in use plays a big role in how the camera should be set up too.

Prime example, our daughter cheers competitively. If you've ever been to an event, you know the lighting on and around the stage is generally not set up for shooting still pics. Since we're not supposed to use flash (even though plenty of parents break that rule), and we don't have access to the remote flashes that the event photographer is using, I have to make do. From experience, a P&S isn't going to give great pictures in this setup, regardless of the camera settings. This is one of the primary reasons I have a DSLR, and I have a couple of "fast" lenses (50mm f/1.4 and 85mm f/1.8) for this. While I can pretty much get away with the same camera settings when switching between those two lenses, if I switch to any of my zooms I have to make serious adjustments to ISO and shutter speed (among others) as my zooms aren't as fast, otherwise I'll end up with some fairly bad pictures. The experience was pretty much the same when she played basketball, as the lighting in her school's gym is pretty bad :-)

lol, yea, there has definately been some time invested . To be honest, the best way to learn is to go shoot. "Film" is cheap these days, and the ability to delete pics means you can shoot a ton of shots in one environment using a variety of settings to see what works for you. Additionally, there are a number of good books to help get a better understanding of when to use different settings. My favorites:

Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson

The Photographer's Eye by Michael Freeman

Also, there are some great tutorials up on www.luminous-landscape.com. He just happens to have a picture taken with a Panasonic Lumix ZS3 at the top of the homepage :-)

Thanks for the website and info. I really want to take a class and plan to soon. I also read through the manual finally and at least learned a few things you can do manually but I still have a lot I want to learn.

I am a big fan of macros.