Going outdoors

Last week I ventured outside for the first time with my lights. I first tried using a bare flash. I'm finding that I really need to work on this. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I just don't like the look of a bare flash. Even with it off camera, it still has that characteristic "flash" look. I'm not sure how to make it more natural. When I try and turn the power down, I end up with an underexposed pic. I'm wondering if it's just that I'm not using it properly in the creative sense--meaning it's not the right look/lighting for the picture.



The first pic above has that direct-flashed look to it. Dunno how to eliminate that. The 2nd one is just a harsh light, with clear, sharp shadows. Which of course is to be expected, I guess I'm just struggling as to when is the appropriate time to have this "look". If I had put a more yellow/gold cast to the light, it almost looks like direct sunlight at noon.

So, I went back to using the shoot-through umbrella (I guess I should at some point try using it relflectively as opposed to using it shoot-through). Got much better results--the light has that soft, diffused characteristic which I personally love. It looks like that's the way I'm going to be shooting the majority of the time. Here are probably the best of the bunch I took that day, trying to balance the flash with ambient:




And a pic of the setup: