Karrah Dawn

I need help. I keep trying to do portrait with my limited lighting (one 420ex flash). I try to make up for it in PS with some adjustments in curves and levels but I just can't seem to get portraits anything close to what I keep seeing here. With my limitations what can I do to make it better? This one was taken on the 19th at nearly 6:30pm so the available light was pretty low.

http://photography.dun​nnet.com …displayimage.ph​p?pos=-279

You might learn a lot by reading this thread: https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=138907

For this setting, how about trying to bounce the flash off a nearby wall or using a bounce off a white card or through a diffuser?

I agree with sswanson...bounce your flash off of something. Use a wall, ceiling or some type of reflector. A simple piece of white poster board would work as a reflector to bounce your flash off of. This will soften the light and give you much better results.

In the example you posted it looks to me like you are using the flash as the main light source. You could have used the available natural light and just filled in shadows with the flash. In low light situations I wouldn't use f/5 I would have opted for something a little faster, f/2.8ish. The sun is the best light source there is, you need to chase it around though.