Work function photos. Need advise please

Hi all. I offered to take photos for a very important work function for my usual $21 an hour pay as a disability worker. Most of them turned out well, however these are the ones I need a bit of advise on

1) I like this 3d look of the subjects. However I know the harsh shadows are not flattering to some people. I had flash pointed directly up. How would I get this look without the harsh shadows? Perhaps one more notch back so its behind me? Also the very pretty girl on the left is out of focus. I must learn to increase depth of field for multiple subjects

How high was the ceiling on each picture? Did you point the flash up on each one? Which flash model do you have? Do you have a diffuser for your flash? Sorry for having more questions than answers at this point.

Proper on camera fill flash in AV mode should have done the trick.

i like tv mode and proper fill

But does av mode consider hotshoe flashes? I think I've tried it and was getting shutter speeds of of less than a second

It depends what the celings are like for bouncing the flash off, but If I were you, I would either add a bounce card/diffuser or take the flash off the camera, have it maybe on a bracket to the side. That might give you less of the harsh shadows.

Markhas wrote in post #14548946
It depends what the celings are like for bouncing the flash off, but If I were you, I would either add a bounce card/diffuser or take the flash off the camera, have it maybe on a bracket to the side. That might give you less of the harsh shadows.

^THIS^

Here is your solution right here.

http://www.dembflashpr​oducts.com/

You get the bounce light from having the flash straight up as well as a ton of fill from the giant bounce card.

Or one of these:

http://www.lumiquest.c​om …categories/Boun​ce-Devices