Dance Recital pictures

I took pictures last night at the dance rehersal and I used my flash. The pictures were terrible. I was using monopod with flash bracket. Girls still had red eyes and all the costumes were washed out.

Any tips on how to take pictures using flash or is it best to just not use the flash?

Thanks

what gear were you using?

Without seeing an image...

Two separate problems. This one is because the flash is too close to the lens.

And this one is from an 'auto exposure' mode. Read post #3
Tips for Xmas Ball Please

I've done some of my niece's dance recitals and they don't allow flash during the performances. At first I used my 100-400L but had to deal with barely adequate shutter speed even at max ISO. My usable shots on those occasions came from the less energetic portions of the dances.

Lately, I've been using the 100 Macro f2.8 lens which gives me better shutter speed but, since it's a prime, I had to be careful where I sat in the auditorium. Luckily, the auditorium in question had pretty good lighting but I still had to use ISO 3200 or 6400.

I go flashless with my 5D and 100 f2 for my nieces' dance recitals that have stage lighting. Usually at f2 to f2.8 and iso800 getting a shutter speed of 1/250 to 1/400 in M mode of course. There's no way to meter when the background is black and the dancers take up a small part of the frame. When new dancers come out, I shoot and review histogram and adjust my shot settings to avoid blown highlights and then stick with it until new dancers could out in different colored clothing.

If you were to use flash for dance recital, you'd likely have to use it in manual mode (external flash) so it wouldn't be metering for all the darkness (provided the lighting is stage lighting with a dark background).