Great Shots w/o Flash?

[SarahBDing]

Ok so i didn't really know where to ask this Question so if it need to be moved go for it.

So i want to shoot outside without the flash and probably in the later afternoon. But anytime i'm working without a flash my pictures always tend to come out no where near as crisp as when i use flash.Is this just because i haven't been using a tripod? I'm wanting to take pictures of a child so its hard to use a tripod when children are so unpredictable and i wanna be able to get down eye level if need be. Where about should i have my settings? Also i'm using a Nikon D40 if you wanted to know.

[milosh]

Since you are shooting in low light conditions, the blurred photos are probably result of a slow shutter speed and hand-holding the camera. What you need to do is to use a wider aperture on your lens, and to increase ISO sensitivity, in order to obtain faster shutter speeds which will prevent the image blur. If you can upload one of the blurred shots we would be able to see what settings exactly did you use.