Canon Powershot Motion Blur!

Help! I'm a first time poster!
I am taking photos for a school. I am using a Canon PowerShot S2IS 5.0 Mega Pixel camera.

Everytime someone moves the photo blurs! If people stand still they come out fine. I am usually working in Auto Mode.

I am ruining photos! How can I fix this problem?

Thanks for your help.

Look at the exif data on the photo. More than likely you are using a slow shutter speed in the auto mode. In the viewfinder it should display the shuttter speed on the bottom of the display. You should try to shoot at atleast 1/60 of a second or faster. You could also try to turn on the flash. In the Auto mode the camera will use what every setting it can to get the photo. Try using the P mode instead you get more control of the photos.

You could also see what type of shutter speed it is using for auto mode. Then you can go into Tv mode and make the shutter a little bit faster from there. The camera will still control most other functions for you in order for the photos to come out, but this will freeze the motion a bit better at least if Tony's method doesn't work.

None of this is making sense to me!
When I increase the shutter speed the picture comes out darker!
I turn on the flash so the picture does not come out dark. It takes foreever for the flash to go off!
NOTHING WORKS!
I hate this camera.I am used to the rebel XT. that camera does not give me a problem. I guess it's me. Damn it!
Is there a way to get this camera to work???!!!!

Tried turning off red-eye reduction for the flash? P&S cameras virtually all have more shutter lag than DSLRs do - comparing response of the two isn't really fair. But the laws of exposure still work the same for both. If you want a faster shutter speed you need to either use a larger aperture or a higher ISO setting, or add light via a flash.

Expecting your S2 to work as well as DSLR is kind of ignorant of what it is. But take the camera off auto and go into TV so you can change the shutter speed, until you speed that up you will always get motion blur, but then you will also need your flash indoors to keep the picture light enough. It is a good camera once you figure out how to use it. If you can't figure out the manual settings you need a simple camera to get the results you want or go back to your Rebel and leave it on its auto mode.

The faster the shutter speed, the darker the pic. So, make the apature number less than it is now, unless it's already at the cameras widest setting (lowest number), then start upping the ISO instead to compensate. I wouldnt reccomend higher than 400 though or it gets real grainy.

It's more a case of balance than anything else.

And dont forget, even if you dont get an exact result in the camera, you can always brighten it in Lightroom or Photoshop later.