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I rarely if ever use flash but when I do in daylight it's only for back lighting  the subject to keep it from looking too much like a dark silhouette. This is especially useful if the sunlight is coming in from behind the subject.

When using flash indoors or in a dark environment, if the subject is close and the background is distant, the background will look very dark indeed! Usually indoors I will try to use any natural lighting that I can or have a good light source aimed at the subject from the side but not directly at the subject. Side lighting gives a much better perspective without washing out the look of the photo.

One camera flash setting and one software correction can lighten a picture background:

1 - Camera setting:  a number of cameras, even non-SLR, will have a "slow sync" flash mode. It may be called by some other name but the effect is to take the flash picture but leave the shutter open longer to get more of the background light in. Of course this will work better if both subject and background are not moving, and the camera is held very steady.

2- Software correction: I have been using Adobe Photoshop Elements for many years and one of the most effective and spectacular photo lighting correction function is "lighten shadow". Unless the darker part of a photo, which may be any deep shadow, is pitch black, pushing the Lighten Shadow index away from zero will bring back to life the darker part of the scene.

Lighten Shadow will not at all, or hardly, affect the main subject under the flash light because it affects most the darkest part of the image and not at all the lightest part. The counterpart function "Darken Highlights" which I often use to remove or decrease excessive glare (which may come from flashlight too!), works the opposite way. Both functions can be used together and I find them more useful and visually more satisfying than playing on brightness and contrast in these cases.

Bernard

Excellent info from mntnlver about backgrounds. It took a long time for me to get the hang of balancing flash and ambient light instead of having my flash dominate. Let's just say there was a lot more error than trial for me before I started to "get it".  It's amazing how many of the photos in National Geographic and other mags utilize flash, but it's done so well, that you don't notice until you really study the photo. 

 If your flash is continually dominating the lighting of your photos, especially to the point of washing out your subject, you can also look at "dialing down" the flash.  Many cameras allow for flash exposure compensation in 1/3-stop increments.  Try experimenting with this if you can (thank goodness for digital and not having to pay for prints in order to learn).  I've found that somewhere in the neighborhood of -2/3 of a stop works well.  Also remember that the background can skew the amount of light the camera tells the flash to pump out.  If there is a light colored background, many cameras will be thrown and not put out enough light.    A dark background is going to cause the flash to dump more light.

Hope this helps more than it confuses.

Scott 

Great info about flash photography. The main thing is keep experimenting with dialing the flash power up or down in various situations. I agree with Scott, it's great to have digital cameras to be able to check your results that way. It's much easier and immediate, rather than waiting for prints.