Press the ON/OFF switch on top of the camera. The lens pops out of the camera body, a green LED illuminates in the center of the power button, the startup sound plays through the speaker on the left side of the camera body, and the start-up image displays briefly on the LCD monitor on the back of the camera before the scene in front of the camera shows up on the screen. I’ll show you how to change the start-up sound and image (or to disable them) in Chapter 4.

Set the fully automatic shooting mode. Rotate the mode dial (the tallest dial on the right top of the camera) to the green Auto setting. (See Figure 2.1.) The PowerShot makes all the exposure settings for you at this setting.

Figure 2.1. These are the shooting controls located on the top of the camera that you’ll use to take your first pictures and movies.

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Frame your image. First, make sure you’ve rotated the LCD on its hinges into viewing position. Once you have the viewing surface facing out from the camera’s back, view the image on the LCD. It will look something like Figure 2.2 (some of the information overlaid on the image may differ, depending on how your camera is set up). Reframe, as desired, by rotating the zoom lever located concentric with the shutter release button: a clockwise push zooms in; counterclockwise zooms out.

Figure 2.2. Frame your photo using the color LCD.

Focus. When the image is composed the way you want, press the shutter release button halfway to set the focus. The upper LED to the immediate right of the optical viewfinder window will flash green, and you’ll hear a beep (unless the camera has been set to Mute) when focus is achieved. If the lighting is so dim that the camera’s built-in electronic flash will fire, the LED will flash orange instead.

Take your best shot. Press the shutter release down the rest of the way to take the picture. The same green LED that indicated focus will flash as the picture is being stored on your memory card. The admonition Busy will appear on the bottom edge of the LCD at the same time.

Review your result. Continue to hold down the shutter release button after you’ve taken a picture and your shot will display on the LCD until you release the button. If you release the button immediately, the picture will be displayed for review for about 2 seconds. (I’ll show you how to increase this display time in Chapter 4.)