PowerShot

[cobbwi]

When I in auto mode and with the flash up, as I press the shutter release half way to focus, a flashing red image sometimes appers in the bottom left of the display. It's the image of a camera and what look like two sets of parentheses on each side. I'm having trouble finding that image in my camera guide. Any ideas?

[jfo]

cobbwi,

That's the icon that warns the shutter speed is low, and if you are not using a tripod, the shakyiness of holding the camera in your hand could result in a blurry image. 

[cobbwi]

Thank you. But if the setting is at "auto" shouldn't the shutter and aperture adjust automatically? Or is this just saying that the shutter speed is still too low even after the auto settings have made their adjustments?

[jfo]

The latter. "Auto" does the best it can to let in enough light to give you a bright enough picture.  Though I think it should consider that the flash can help with this, according to its calculations, the best it thinks it can do is to use a slower shutter speed.

This is why "auto" is not really that smart sometimes, and you have should use other modes (if available) to have control over what is happening.  In this case, you could use the "Tv" mode if you have it to manually set the shutter speed faster, and then force the camera to compensate by adjusting the aperture to open wider.  Depending on how dark it is, though, this still might not be enough, and you'll have to trade-off by slowing down the shutter speed more, and/or increasing the ISO.