Lights, Camera, Action

...with an emphasis on ACTION!!!!!
The advanced shutterbugs among you know about this, so you can probably just move on.
With today's cameras that do pretty much everything but cook dinner, there's not a lot of thinking involved in getting a good picture. And, that's not necessarily bad.
But, it's not totally good, either.
By their very description, "still" pictures are just that. They don't move. When you snap the shutter, you've frozen a moment in time.
That moment is when it all happens. And "moments" vary in just how long they are.
You can, with the right shutter speed, stop a hummingbird's wings, and even a bullet moving at 3000 feet per second. That's a real quick moment. And, there are times when photographers want to do just that.
But, there are other times when a photographer may want to show a little action in his pictures. Here are a couple examples I shot yesterday.

You'll note the blades in the top shot of the Osprey are virtually frozen. This was at the "automatic-program" setting on my Nikon D300. The shutter speed was programmed for 1/500th of a second, a part of the camera's automation package. Pretty fast, but not mind boggling. Fast enough to "almost" stop the props dead in their tracks.
The problem with a shot like that is the whole pictrue looks like it's a fake. A model, posed against a gray seamless background. Blah.
Next shot...I set the camera to Shutter priority, and selected a shutter speed of 1/60th of a second. The D300 adjusted the aperature for the conditions of the moment. I could have used an even longer exposure, i.e., slower shutter speed, but handholding this shot with a zoom set at about 250 mm was all I could manage, and keep the camera steady. No need to add camera blur to the process.
The blades, you'll note, are blurred. Not from camera motion, but because they're turning. It adds life to the picture.
Action! if you will.
This works well with moving water, too. Set your camera on a tripod, and adjust the shutter speed so you'll be shooting at 1/4 to 1/15th of a second (always fun and educational to experiment), and take some shots of a brook or stream. A waterfall is a great subject for long shutter speeds.
Not a lot of waterfalls in eastern NC, but we do have the ocean. And, that big body of water is always moving.
Set your camera on a sturdy tripod. Best time is after sunset, and with a full moon (keep the moon out of the picture area), and expose the scene for about 30 seconds. If you are near a fishing pier, put that in part of the frame for a reference. If the pier has lights on it, you'll need to set your aperature manually. Otherwise, the pier's lights will confuse your camera.
You will be surprised at just how artistic you can be with your camera.
(Oh, yeah. Make sure your flash is turned off for these exposures)