Update

My girlfriend has returned from two weeks holiday and is suitably impressed with my pictures. She is so impressed that she has even volunteered to model for me (no need to go to bars to shoot strippers).

She is even thinking about going on photography trips so that 'we' can take pictures together ("It'll be romantic). Luckily, I'm a cyclist too, so there is still plenty of scope for solo trips (when I'm allowed out).

I've opened a photobucket account so that you can have a look and tell me that I'm a natural and possibly a photography genius. I may have overstepped the mark.
I've just had a look at the album and see that not all of my good stuff (IMO) is in there, so I'll be updating it tomorrow as I don't have the pictures on this PC.

I took a trip to the library and have discovered Tom Ang's books. Some good tips in there.

In the last ~20 hours, I've probably taken about 300 pictures!

I followed Mat's advice about Av mode and it worked really well, so I now have loads of pics of my friend's toddler, er, toddling around, as well as some shots of my mates playing pool and DJing.

I was in a bar and a burlesque stripper came on stage. I tried to get some shots of her, but they all had some serious camera shake. I think Av mode was wrong for that situation and Tv mode with a fast shutter speed would have been better. Ah well, you lives and learns.

I find that the image on the LCD seems MUCH darker than they come out on the PC and isn't really representative of the actual picture taken. Is this something that can be changed, is it something I'll get used to, or, is it me talking crap?!

Now to venture into the park with a crappy tripod that I've borrowed from a mate...

Thanks Mat,

I have got the manual, but I was suffering from information overload and couldn't take it all in.

Your explanation of the Av and Tv modes make perfect sense to me. You fix one variable, adjust another variable and the camera works out the final variable. Why don't they just say that in the manual?!

As well as the manual, I've also been given a couple of books:
The Digital Photography Handbook by Doug Harman &
The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby
More information overload. I can't see the wood for the trees.

From searching t'internet I had found a link to a Pentax tutorial for the K10D, but it seems to have been taken down and I can't find it again to post here to find out if someone else knows where to find it.

Now that the battery is fully charged, and armed with Mat's "Use Av for now" advice, I'm off to a friend's house to return a Chimpanze and take pics of their toddler. I may even set up a Flickr account!

I am a complete photography novice. I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHY!

My girlfriend's Dad gave her his K10D when he bought something new (no idea what) but she's not interested in learning how to use it and is happy to use her point and shoot or camara phone for snaps. As she doesn't want to learn how to use the K10D, she has given me the task of learning how to use it and then I can show her (she's pretty smart, huh).

I said I am a complete novice but that is not strictly true. My last camera was a Kodak Discman (remember those?) so I am completely overwhelmed by the number of buttons, menus, sub-menus and options on the camera.
The only button I am completely confident with using is the delete button!

A full list of the contents of the camera bag I've been given is (and prepare to laugh at me when I get all of the names of things wrong):
Pentax K10D - I think its a called a 'camera body', right?
Pentax SMC DA 18-55mm. - I think it is the 'standard' lens but I'm not sure of the 'F' thingys. It looks similar to this.
Pentax 52mm lens hood - I had to google the serial number to find out what it is called. What is it for and when should it be used?
Kenko MC Skylight [1A] 52mm - Google tells me its a filter of some sort. Again, I have no idea what its for and when it should be used.
Tamron AF 70-300mm 1:4-5.6 LD Tele-Macro[1:2] - You can probably tell I'm a novice as I just copied everything written on the lens. I don't know what is important and what isn't. Oooh, just found the lens hood for this lens too.
Battery, charger and a couple of 2 gig Sandisk Ultra II SD cards.
All of this kit lives in a Lowepro camera bag.

I've had some fun over the last couple of days taking pictures of the cat and annoying some mates by taking more pictures than a pap on the red carpet but as I play around with the myriad options all of my shots are very hit and miss.

I am a believer in learning the hard way from the begining rather than getting going on automatic and then having to relearn how to use things manually (like driving a car) so I've tried to stay away from Green mode. I've messed around with the various modes, but I don't understand what they all mean.

So, I'll start with what I think is an easy(ish) question:
For indoor shots of people under those horrible low energy lights, what settings and kit should I be using?

Phew! A bit War and Peace there.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

EKE