Taking good photo tips with SD 500?

[kkk]

I'm having a Canon IXUS700 (SD500) digital camera

1. Action pictures
The camera does not have manual controls on aperture, and shutter speed control is 1 second or more. Is adjusting the ISO only the possible solution with this camera in taking action picture?

2. Indoor pictures
It seems I have difficulty getting sharp pictures with this camera in indoor scenario. See picture below . It's taken with "Indoor" preset and exposure +2/3 not to mention have to steady the camera to avoid shake!

Is this as good as this camera can give? Or anyone with some tips to make it better? I always have problem with the picture sharpness in indoor as I wanted to use the natural light instead of using the flash.

[nitr0uzv]

Its very hard for compact cameras to take indoor photos using natural light, because they lose so much detail at higher iso. What is wrong with using flash indoors? If red eye is a problem you should just go with it then edit it later using a photo editing program.

Or you can try adjusting your flash manually if your camera has this feature.

Adjusting higher iso is the best way to speed up shutter speed and use natural lighting

Manual mode should allow you to adjust the shutter speed and aperture

EDIT: sorry just saw your post about blurred backgrounds; What I would do is go into full manual and use iso 100 use lowest F-stop and keep playing with the shutter speed until you expose it just right

Or if you have a flat surface; place the camera on it, use full manual, focus on your friend, expose the photo right, and use auto timer