Hello everyone

I am hoping for some advice regarding flashes. I own just one at present, a Canon Speedlite 430EX. I mostly shoot animals and all on site in owners homes, so the light available varies wildly.

I have done well for the most part with my speedlite and I also use "fill lights" that sit upon or clip to my table to light the subject.

My last shoot I did not have anything good. My pics were so dark, i wondered if my flash fired at all (from behind it it is hard to tell at times). Moreover, there are no highlights in the fur, no shine as is normal. Everything is just flat.

The kitty is black but that has not presented a problem for me. I have enclosed below one of the horrible shots from the photo shoot and next to it a couple of recent shots in the home using the same equipment, but ambient light only with no table or fill light. No problem there!

http://www.pbase.com/torigregory/inbox

So I am wondering; did my flash just die? Of course I get poor results or it doens't function if the battery is too low but i also get a warning light and that didn't happen here. So my problem was apparently NOT the battery.

So I guess my #1 question is what could have happened? Could my flash have died? Some other problem? I did include only one of the "bad" pictures. I can add more but they are all bad in the same way. Same flatness etc.

I have other questions about lighting and flashes, such as using an off camera flash to augment the speedlite that i will save for another post. First I am hoping you all can help me diagnose what went wrong here. I have been doing these kinds of shots for 5 years, with the same equipment, in different homes, and I have never had this happen before.

Thanks in advance!

Tori G