Ok so Picture quality discussed, Flash discussed. Now we need to discuss composition and for that I suggest in viewfinder turning on grid view
green dots highlighting central rectangle try to avoid having your subject there 9 out of 10 times that is what every man\woman\boy or girl with a camera tries to do this is flat and boring. Not in all cases this grid will be the same as the option in your camera I am sure. split the scene up in the rules of 3rds 3 up 3 across and have the picture tell the story if you photograph a bir for example and it is looking up to the right try and composite your frame so the bird is in the bottom left section so the picture tells the story of the bird looking up to the right your viewers will see what the bird is seeing etc.
i have tried getting into the rule of thirds it's been quite a bugger (oops, pardon me) to get right.
this is all i have on my viewfinder
I have the grid on live view, but live view has a delay as to what is seen and quite noisy at the best of times.
i can see where the thirds rack up and whatnot, but my focus tends to disagree
i'll have to manually selct my focus points. i will definitely look into the speedlight when i next get money, as it seems pretty cool and looks like a must for me. Larry, is quite the mover so it's hard to get him into the sort of composition, Dash is the same, a right little houdini and all, but i'll DEFINITELY try and get into the spirit of the rule of thirds.
I tend to be a bit odd, with how i compose my photos, i think the rules and regulations photographers have to learn is sometimes a bit much and leaves barely anything to be unique about in my eyes. seems such a frustrating hobby to take up but i suppose i'll have to suck it all up and live with it XD