Photographing fast objects

[RumbleV]

I am completely new to this whole photography thing and in fact, just got my first "real camera" over the weekend. I have a Nikon d3000 and I will use mainly to get pics of my kiddos sports and our dog. Yesterday, I was taking pics of my husband training our dog running to retrieve but some of my pics of him running came out clear but his legs were blurred. The whole reason for my purchase was to rid of the blur we get using the point and shoot cameras with a lag. Could this blur be from the camera or my idiocy with using my camera?

[zona5101]

Hi and welcome
Congrats on your new camera!
Blur isn't a problem...it's a feature Seriously you have the ability with your dslr to control whether or not you want to have motion blur like you see. Sometimes it's a nice effect to give the viewer a sense of motion. Other times you might not want it. It is a function of the shutter speed. The faster the shutter the less motion blur will occur.

here are some great article to get you started...
Digital Photography Tips and Tutorials

[RichardTaylor]

Most likely not the camera.

Try putting it in sports mode and see how you go.
This normally sets the camera up for a fast shutter speed (to freeze action), focus tracking (to track a subject) and continuous shooting (to allow you to take pics in quick sucession).

You may want to have a look at this exposure tutorial, on this site, which will give you an idea of how you can set the camera, with total control, for different shooting conditions.

Exposure (1) A balancing act

[RumbleV]

Thanks for the articles! I have already started reading them and can't wait to give the tips a go!