Harsh Light?

I always tend to shoot in harsh light...Don't get me wrong I try to do evening or early morning but my kids are not evening or early morning people. lol

So lately I have been looking for shadows to shoot in, but notice that my photos are dark.

I try fill flash but then my photos are washed out...

I have a photodisk would this help?

Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Maybe I need to break down and get an external.

It's hard to pinpoint without a sample of the issue that you mentioned.
Which mode do you normally shoot in? You did the right thing to use fill flash to soften the shadow. I need to look at a sample photo that shows the wash out problem in order to narrow the cause.
i suspect the max flash sync was hit and was probably blinking when u metered.

ashleymcnamara wrote:
I try fill flash but then my photos are washed out...

Maybe I need to break down and get an external.

If fill flash is washing out your photos, then it ain't "fill" flash. What mode are you using when you shoot? You need to be in Av, Tv or in P (with the light above a certain Ev) before fill flash kicks in. Even then, I find Canon's flash algorithms a little strong for my taste so I dial in about an additional -2/3 of FEC (Flash Exposure Compensation).

Mark