Nikon D3000: using the monitor when taking pictures?

Nope, the D3000 doesn't have live view. You have to look through the view finder to take pictures.

No, fortunately you cannot. This is a good thing, because holding an over 2 pound camera and lens at arms length will introduce a lot of camera movement which causes blur. Using a fine DSLR like you would a $100 P&S camera is a little silly, all things considered. The reason for buying a DSLR is to increase the quality of the images and using P&S techniques can only degrade your images. The way everyone who learned how to use a fully adjustable camera did for the past fifty or so years, was to look through the view finder of the camera to critically compose and expose their film. While there are some legitimate reasons for using live view, not relate to someone so new to photography. * shooting with a DSLR through a microscope * shooting with a DSLR through a telescope * shooting product shots using a product table and studio * shooting industrial shots when a welder is using an arc welder. In this case, it protects the photographers eyes from extreme amounts of UV light In all the above cases, the cameras must be attached to a AC adapter, connected to the mains. Using live view puts a huge drain on batteries. If the live view is left on too long, not only will the batteries drain fast, but the cameras CMOS sensor will become overheated and shoot down.

Any way to turn the brightness down on the monitor? Doing astro photography and the monitor is a bit distracting.

That function is called live view, but the Nikon D3000 doesn't have it.

the D3000 does not have live-view... so if that is what you're looking for, unfortunately, you're out of luck...

P.S. I don't believe when people say that you cannot hold a camera at arms length steady... possibly because I'm a 23-yr old fit male that I find that I hold the camera steadier in live-view than with the viewfinder... that's right... I personally find myself with sharper pictures when I'm holding the camera at arms length... it was funny, some "less than bright" person on here made a claim that "ALL pictures taken with live-view will be blurry", I kid you not, that's what he said...

P.P.S. hehehe it tickles me when I get thumbs down... makes me feel accomplished! however to those who give me thumbs down... I fail to see what you find so repulsive in my answer that you would take time out of your life to grade down an answer here. On top of that, if you disagree with me, I welcome you to send me a message and prove my answer wrong... please prove to me that **I personally** cannot hold a camera steadier in live-view than in OVF... I know YOU might not be able to do it... but that doesn't mean others cannot! Enjoy your day :D