Here I hope you can see the problem I described with my flash in the picture on the left. The pic is not retouched; it came out dark, flat etc.
The pic on the right is the other I described, same home, same flash but much better results even though I didn't have the lights and backdrop, etc.
I didn't mention in my original post that (since i do shoot animals, and mostly cats) my flash fires many times in a photo session and in quick succession because I have found that be be the best way to get the "winning" picture. Don't know if that has any effect on the flash life.
