You may have been wondering what that 'Shutter sync' flash setting on your camera is. (If you don't have one: sorry, this post is not for you. Here is a picture of a sympathetic kitten to make you feel better. It, too, does not have this setting on its camera.)
Your two options are: first/front curtain sync, or second/rear curtain sync.
The basic difference is that first curtain fires the flash as soon as you press the shutter button, and second curtain fires the flash afterwards, just before the shutter closes.
So, which do you use?
The following two pictures were both taken at 1/10, with the hand moving in the same direction each time, from left to right.
FIRST CURTAIN
Flash fires, it captures the image, I move my hand, you can see a little trail of where my hand went.
Good for: If you want to freeze the moment as soon as you press the shutter button.
Downside: If the shutter speed is slow, it can leave a streak after the action has already happened.
SECOND CURTAIN
It starts capturing the image, I move my hand, flash fires and stops the action.
Good for: Leaving a nice movement trail of light after what you flashed.
Downside: You won't be exactly sure what moment you're capturing, as it freezes the moment a moment after you press the shutter.
In both cases, it doesn't make a difference which one you set it to if the shutter speed is high enough that there's no motion blur anyway.
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