camera woes

I'm beginning to see the weaknesses in either 1) my camera, or 2) my command of my camera.  It's a pretty new camera, much nicer than our old one, but a point-and-shoot nonetheless.  Having started to care more about getting quality pictures of a particular subject at a particular time (I used to look at a great picture as great luck), I've started to remember more about what I'm reading about photography: no flash, white balance, bokeh.  And I'll admit that I don't really know how to turn off my flash, and I'm still trying to understand the concept of the white balance, and the bokeh--love it, but still great luck when I achieve it.

My (our?) shortcomings have been highlighted twice in the past couple of days.

Case 1: The Moon.

Here, note that I was trying some sort of "night" setting, which apparently required me to hold myself still until the moon had set (does the moon set?).

Then, I tried (I think?) turning off the flash.  I actually really love this one, because the sky is not quite black...the cherry tree's shadow is just discernible.

Next up, gelatinous moon-like blob.  Not sure how I did that, but the colors of the sky & trees are just about right.

And the best one.  The moon has a halo, which it didn't at all--it was so crisp in the sky--but the scale is good, and it's a start.

Case 2: The Quilt.

Remember the cutting?  Well, now, I've sewn all the blocks, like them all, love a few, and am ready to sew the top.  In The Modern Quilt Workshop, which is the best academic craft reading of all time, the authors talk a lot about design intention and having a Big Idea (their term), which has both interested me and sort of put me in a tizzy.  I'll talk about the tizzy in another post, but for now, I share with you the three possible layouts for the top, in all their point-and-shoot glory:

The middle layout was originally my favorite, now, not so much.  Not sure if that's because of the horrible picture quality, which I originally edited but have now decided to leave as is to demonstrate my point.  That one was taken at night, by the glow of a single living room lamp, flash on.  Uck.  The other two I took in natural morning light.  My question?  What do I do if I have to take a picture at night?  Like if I'm taking a picture of dinner and don't want to try this?

Something to think about while I finish my quilt top.