Shutter wont open when there is not enough light

Blur is usually caused by one the following problems. 1) Camera is unable to focus so the shot is out of focus. 2) The hand shakes during a shot that has a longer exposure (shutter speed) and 3) There is not enough light so the camera holds the shutter OPEN (seeing) while to subject is moving. In most cases you will have few problems when you have plenty of light. Many indoor areas when you zoom in have too little light to take a quick non blurry photo.

Flash can freeze motion. The flsh is quick and it is like a strobe freezing action. A tripod prevents camera shake.

I suspect that your shutter has stopped working. When you take the photos in good light, the shutter stays open causing total over exposure. I bet if you take a photo at night in a dimly lit place with flash, the photos would be fine as this does situation does not rely on the shutter.

The camera may be set so it will only shoot when the camera is in focus, Like on Portrait or Landscape mode, and you cannot get the camera to lock in the focus so it won't shoot

Unless you have a top of the line adjustable flash you canNOT.

A flash unit is designed to give you a burst of light at the time your shutter opens so the camera has enough light to take a photo.
They are designed in such a way as to give enough light under nearly all conditions, but as with ANY fixed setting, it will sometimes be too bright and sometimes not enough.

I recommend you leave as is.

Using the auto mode on the nikon should help. It will adjust the setting automatically between night mode and day mode.

it won't open if the it is set to "preview" mode...just check or else it's stuck

Camera or hand shake are the most common cause of blurry photos, long exposure needs slower shutter speed, this is happened when your subject have inadequate light, and during this process, the camera sensor/shutter is open, causing the resulting photo to be blurry, because even a single movements of your camera or hand will cause the camera sensor to move, that causes a blurry capture. In order not to experience this, you have to be familiar with the setting of your camera, there are 3 important settings you have to understand: ISO Setting, Shutter Speed, and the Aperture Setting, they are related with each other. ISO Setting, is the sensitivity of your camera to light, meaning the higher the ISO, the more sensitive your camera in light, and the more sensitive, the faster your shutter speed. ISO scale from 100, 200, 400, and so on, depends on the cameras specs. Shutter speed, is the speed of the opening and closing of the camera's curtain( e.g. 1/30, 1/60 of a sec....and so on) and Aperture is the opening size of your lens focal points (the lower the f, the wider the opening: f1.4, f1.8, f2.0, f2.8, f3.5, f5.6, f8, f11, f16, f22, f32
I hope this will be helpful.

annlane123,
Since you have been taking photos in one of the other modes, say shutter or aperture mode you may have changed the F-stop in the process, check to see that the ring is set back for auto mode by aligning the red numbers (ususally F-22) to the white dot on the lens, that way when the camera in auto needs more light the lens will open enough to allow it. Test it with the metering in the viewfinder you'll see it as you change to each number. Remember both the lens and camera are communicating with each other. Not allowing the shutter to release is kind of a safety.
randy320sgi

snoopytwo, jmv23 & guests,
Sounds like you have been taking photos in both auto & manual modes, make sure your f-stop is set at the range it needs to be to allow enough light for the camera to take the photo. Since the lens and the camera communicate, if the lens is closed down & not allowing enough light the camera will not take the photo - does that make sense - Look at the metering in auto mode and see what the camera says the conditions are for a specific lighting condition check to see if the lens has a aperture position for Auto, usually a dot on the lens ring to align with a setting in red or green (likely a F-22) depending on the make of lens, that has been moved to some place in the middle and not returned while trying other manual settings so the shutter won't release because the camera is told by the lens there is not enough light or slow enough shutter to take this picture.
randy320sgi

Use A mode and set the biggest aperture you can set (f3.5 ?) this this will then allow the camera the fastest shutter for the availbe light. In low light conditions this still may onlt be 1/4 sec which is still to slow for hand holding a camera. Best you turn your flash on huh.