Flashing problem with Olympus stylus500

Might be the flash, more likely it is the ISO rating

So, the problem doesn't seem to be the flash if the actual subject in the foreground is exposed properly. My guess is that the background is being lit by another light source. Typically, your camera uses a flash for dark areas or what it gauges as a dark area. This doesn't adjust the background for additional light sources. For example, if you're standing outside and there's a tree covering someone that you're taking a picture of your flash will adjust to "properly" light that individual. However, because the flash was used for the main subject, the background is actually now overexposed. The overexposed background will show up as a brightly lit area because the camera had to adjust for the foreground. This will actually reverse itself when it's dark out - meaning if the background and foreground are dark, the flash will expose the foreground, but the background will be black. Hopefully, that helps you understand lighting and exposure. Now, to fix this problem when shooting, you would need to consider several options - 1. SLR camera with aperture and f-stop settings as well as compensation controls. This will allow you to control every element of the exposure, but you still need to be aware of the lighting behind the "subject" to properly expose your shots. 2. backlighting compensation - common settings on both SLR and point and shoot cameras that makes auto lighting conversions for backlighting and other common lighting issues. Test whatever options are on your camera to see what works best for your specific problem. 3. Photoshop retouching - you may take one shot with your subject exposed properly and a second shot with the background then merge the images together. 4. using a tripod to shoot without using the flash - this may give you the closest exposure to exactly what you see when looking at your subject.

The 430ex flash is E-TTL, that means it adapts is power to the scene. If you shoot a scene at 10 meters, the flash will choose to flash at the max power, and will take time to recharg. Try to get closer to your subject, and remember that the flash can only lighting your subject, not the whole scene.

This is the AF Assist feature. If you don't have a hot-shoe flash mounted, but you do have the pop-up flash raised, the camera will strobe the pop-up flash in low-light situations to provide illumination for the auto-focus to work. You can disable it by turning off the AF ILLUMINATOR option in the "Wrench 1" settings menu.

Just hit the flash mode button until the get the lightning bolt symbol meaning constant flash. I use this all the time on the same camera for a backlit subject when I need a fill flash
Mike

First, check to see if you're in auto or program mode, as opposed to manual or possibly even aperture priority (if it supports it). Typically, auto or program mode sets your shutter speed to around 1/60th of a second, which is usually good enough to hand-hold a flash shot without blur. The camera should emit enough flash - within its range, of course - to get a good exposure. You typically won't get a good flash shot if your subject is more than 10-12 feet away. If you want, you should be able to go back and look at the way your camera was set for each shot with a program like Photoshop or Elements. That information is stored as "EXIF" data, and if you select a file in Photoshop CS' file manager for example, you should be able to see what the shutter speed was on any given shot. Let's suppose you look at some old, blurry night-shots - the EXIF data, that is - that should've turned out OK and your shutter speed and everything look fine. At that point, I'd try taking some flash photographs using a tripod at night which would eliminate camera-shake as a possible cause of the blurry shots. I suspect that the likely cause was your camera wasn't in the correct mode though and once you get that squared away, it'll be OK. Good luck!

The Olympus Ni-MH batteries will provide approximately 200 shots with typical usage (half of the images shot with flash/half without flash and minimal use of the LCD monitor).

It is possible you were shooting in the NIGHT & PORTRAIT Scene mode. In this mode, the camera sets a slow shutter speed for the background exposure and fires the flash for the subject exposure. Since the shutter speed is slow, your subject should be still and the camera should be on a tripod - otherwise blur can result. Since this mode should only be used when the above conditions can be met, you should select PROGRAM AUTO mode for low light situations where you are taking images within six feet of your subject and the flash is required for proper exposure.

It is possible you were shooting in the Night Scene mode. In this mode the camera sets a slow shutter speed for the background exposure and fires the flash for the subject exposure. Since the shutter speed is slow, your subject should be still and the camera should be on a tripod otherwise blur can result. Since this mode should only be used when the above conditions can be met, you should select Auto or Program mode for low light situations where you are taking images within six feet of your subject and the flash is required for proper exposure.