Hi Nicole,
Doug gives me too much credit for photography, but I'll take a stab at trying to help.
I've got an Olympus C-3000, among others, and the 3000 is similar but yours has more features. There are many variables, depending on your settings and what you are trying to shoot, but generally, I try to shoot either in (A)Aperture or (S)Shutter Priority. (P) Program is essentially the auto setting and should give you pretty good results at the default settings in most conditions so long as you have enough light.
Because the C-Series have most of the options within hidden menues, some of your settings could be off.
A good starting point would be to make sure you have these settings:
Use Center Weighted Metering. You should have 3 options displayed on the LCD, being a rectangle with a dot in it (Spot); plain rectangle (Normal or Matrix metering), and a rectangle with a dark area and a larger dot (Center Weighted). Make sure the little flower isn't selected unless you are trying to take an extreme closeup.
Half-press the shutter to lock in the focus and exposure of your main subject. I can't remember if the 3040 has external Automatic Exposure Lock (there will be an AEL) button on the camera if it does). If so, then aiming the camera at the part of the subject that matters most to you and pressing the AEL button will lock the exposure.
All Reset: Off (otherwise the camera will reset to the default settings each time you turn it off)
White Balance: Cloudy Even on bright days, this seems to give good results.
ISO: 100 Higher ISO settings can help in very low light but can result in grainy pictures.
Quality: SHQ You can use HQ but SHQ will give you more pixels to work with, especially for printing or cropping smaller sections of the picture. Of course, SHQ will give you roughly half the number of pictures available on your card.
Sharpening: Normal
Contrast: Normal
EV: 0 On a very bright day, you might try -0.3 or -0.7. This essentially darkens the image.
Digital Zoom: Off. Digital zoom is a gimmick and should not be used. You can do the same thing with a computer program which just enlarges the image, though quality may suffer.
For flash, the onboard flash isn't very effective beyond 7-10 feet indoors.
What settings are you using and what type photos are you trying to take?
For an overview that explains the settings and controls, this very good free online "Short Course" might help to point you in the right directions:
http://www.shortcourses.com/guides/olympus/c3040guide.htm
Just a few tips on technique:
Shutter Lag: Digitals do have a momentary lag between the time you press the shutter and when the camera actually takes the picture. You have to anticipate this and hold the camera steady after you press the shutter button. You also have to anticipate the shot if a target is moving. Be sure to always half press the shutter button momentarily before pressing the button all the way down. This allows the camera's computer to read the exposure and lock in the focus before the shot.
Make sure you have enough shutter speed according to the settings you have selected. It is difficult to hold most digitals for sharp photos below 1/60th sec. Faster is better but in lower light conditions, may not be possible. A tripod is a big help if shooting lower shutter speeds.
These are the things I can think of off the top of my head. I will be glad to attempt answer any questions. I'm just a novice myself and certainly no expert, but I've spent quite a bit of time trying to learn.
HTH,
Dick
