I second these suggestions... great advise. I use a Demb flash card mounted with the head of my flash swiveled 90 degrees. I can go from landscape to portrait and still maintain a lightsource very close above the axis of the camera to help prevent side shadowing. The demb diffuser softens the forward light and cuts it about a stop. It also allows a large majority of light to bounce around in the room adding to the ambient. I always gel. I have CTO in 3 different flavors but usually stack 1/4 CTO until I get the WB I need. Midwest Photo Exchage is a good place to order sheets. I cut my own, rather than buy Rosco sample packs. I use old Quantaray 9550 heads which have a wide angle diffuser great for holding the gels. ProMaster carries the 5750 series which is identical. I shoot manual ISO 800 mostly. f4 @ 1/125th is a great place to start. Big tip: aperture controls the amount of flash light coming into the camera, shutter speed controls the amount of ambient and ISO controls both. F4 on full frame is a bit shallow so flash power has to be compensated up when increasing aperture. If more ambient is needed then I simply back down the shutter speed. Personally, I don;t like to drag the shutter because you can get trails if the ambient is too bright. It takes steady hands and very good technique to get great results with that method. What I usually do is try to get a 1/2-1 EV underexposed image without flash first. If I can get that comfortably with ISO 800 and shutter no slower than 1/60th I'm good to go. I'll add flash bounced if I can or deflected from the Demb diffuser and dial in the aperature for good depth of field/exposure. Always try to keep things simple for yourself and remember that any sort of practice in preparation makes your job easier and more enjoyable.