How do I use the display screen on my Nikon D3000 camera to take a picture?

I received a Nikon D300 Digital Camera for Christmas. It is a FANTASTIC camera but I can only use the viewfinder to take a photo. I would LOVE to be able to use the display screen to take pictures. Can you help me?

Sorry. That model does not have live view. Nice camera anyway.

Rotate the left dial to LV position.

Description says D300, as did the original question. Answer reflects that, you don;t seem to know what you have.

AYRTFS?

Sorry, the D3100 was introduced almost immediately after the D3000, and included the Live View that customers said they wanted.

You're stuck with the finest viewfinder system in photographic history.

Read

READ your camera's Instructions Manual. Look for Live View; if you don't see it, then it means your camera does not have that feature/option, and you're stuck using one of the finest viewfinders in the world.

WHY would you want to use Live View when you have such a great viewfinder? First, Live View consumes battery power. And in using Live View, you'll stretch out your arms out in front of you, that makes it more susceptible to camera shake that causes motion blur than if you were using the viewfinder. Also, it looks amateurish. USE YOUR CAMERA'S GREAT VIEWFINDER! Live view is only if you have a tilting and swiveling rear monitor for shooting overhead or at ground level. HOW often do you need to do that?

It is a good thing that your D3000 does NOT have live view.

Attempting to hold a two-pound camera at arm's length to compose an image is problematic.

* It will wave around and require you to use much shorter exposures and make shooting in low light a nightmare.
* If you need to make incremental adjustments in exposure, attempting so in live view can become frustrating.
* In full sun, it can be nearly impossible to actually see what is on the LCD.

Stick with the basics and use the optical viewfinder which as Andrew points out is the finest viewfinder in photographic history.

To prevent blur caused by camera movement, hold the camera as shown on page 27 if the cameras user manual.

Here is a link to a shot taken holding a camera as illustrated on page 27 of your manual in low light at 1/4 second. It is not until you enlarge the image to 50% do you see much blur

D3000, or D300? Two very different cameras!
Serious photographers rarely use live view.
99.9 % of the time I use the view finder.

The D3000 (I'll assume you have the D3000, not the D300) doesn't have a movie mode, thus, doesn't have live view. Get used to using the view finder as it is mostly a superior way of composing your image. The only time I use live view is macro and studio photography of still objects when I need to manually focus.

Using live view makes it harder to compose an image when the camera is at arms length due to a number of reasons. In bright light, like outdoors during a sunny day, live view is almost useless since the LCD monitor gets wiped out. Live view also requires lots of power which reduces battery life.

All of your answers are in the manual that you couldn't be troubled to open, much less read.