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With first person you must be very careful to stay in each characters head, and know only what they know. This can be expanded if you jump from one person to another. However, you must be sure that
readers knows whose head you're in. It's easy to confuse reader, and just a little too much of this will have your reader lost, frustrated and putting your book on shelf forever.
Third person is easiest to use; at least that's what many writers, including myself, think. Third person allows you to know everything. That's why it's also called omniscient view. You are like a god, and know everything that everyone in story knows, plus everything going on in their universe. If you want reader to know that Jim is in garden with a gun, you can just say so. You don't need Jim to shoot, or have someone else see Jim. It allows you to paint your story with a much broader brush.
A good writer can, with a lot of work, combine these different views, but it must be done just right and for a reason. I suggest staying with one view throughout a story, just to make things easier on you, and reader.
Find out what voice you like to write in. Do what I did above. Write two or three pages of a story in each person, and see which you enjoy most, and which sounds most natural to you. Which person you choose may even vary from story to story.
So go out and write. Whatever person you choose to write in is up to you, just be sure to write.
Jeff Colburn is a freelance business writer. He can be reached at his site, The Creative Cauldron (www.CreativeCauldron.com), or at JeffColburn@CreativeCauldron.com
