We need to know what mode you are using on the mode dial.
Also... how far away is your subject? Pop-up flashes are not intended for distant subjects.
The pop-up flash on your camera has a "guide number" of 13 meters (43 feet). This is a "baseline" value which is NOT how far a subject can be under typical conditions... the value indicates how far a subject can be if the camera is using ISO 100 and the lens if f/1.0. Of course, your lens is NOT f/1.0, but the reason the value is used as a baseline is because it makes the math easy.
All we do is divide the guide number by the f-stop value that the camera lens is ACTUALLY using and that gives us the distance at which the flash can adequately light a subject.
Assuming you are using the kit lens (a variable f/3.5-5.6 lens) then the best the lens might be able to do is f/5.6.
Divide 43 feet by 5.6 and we get: 43 ÷ 5.6 = 7.67 feet. That's it... not even 10' away. BTW, this is VERY typical of pop-up flashes on any camera. Those tiny little pop-up flashes just can't emit much light.
The camera can improve this somewhat by increasing the ISO. At ISO 400, the pop-up flash can illuminate a subject 15' away. But we don't know what ISO your camera used because you haven't supplied us with that information. Your camera could push up to ISO 1600 and get that distance improved to about 30' but this has the downside of showing more "noise" in the image as you keep increasing the ISO sensitivity.
Fortunately your DSLR has a "hot shoe" on top which allows you to connect an external flash which can provide considerably more power. The Canon Speedlite 430EX II, for example, has a guide number of about 141' (43 meters). Using that flash with an f/5.6 focal ratio gives us: 141 ÷ 5.6 = 25.17 feet (a little better than 25 feet away). That's MUCH better and that's why Canon provides that hot-shoe for external flash.
Tim Campbell
5D III, 5D IV, 60Da
