How to adjust the shutter speed on a Nikon D50?

I have a d50 but don't know how to do much other than snap regular pictures.Id like the shutter to stay open longer to show action/movement and for cool effect but don't know how.

Does anyone know how I can achieve this?

Put it in manual mode. One of your control dials will control shutter speed, one will control aperture. Some cameras like the D40 have a shift button and only a single control dial. I'm not sure about the D50.

In manual mode look at the display on top of the camera. Next to the battery indicator is your shutter speed. To change it just rotate the dail next to the top screen. If nothing is displayed just press the shutter half way and the display will activate. To change ap just hold down the +/- button next to the power switch and use the same dial. The ap setting is displayed next to the shutter speed on the screen. This info is also displayed in your view finder.

Also it does help to read the manual, this camera has a ton of options.

Do you have the Owners Manual? You can get the PDF Owners Manual if you don't physically have one on hand.

All of the basic information on the camera operation can be found in the Owners Manual

http://www.nikonusa.com/...D50_en.pdf

SIMPLE ANSWER:

Put the mode dial to 'S'

with either the front selector dial (below the shutter button) or the front selector (right top side), select your shutter speed for what you describe, set the shutter speed to 5", 8" or up to 20" if you want. Just experiment