Toucan Sam
On camera flash has destroyed more photos than anything I can think of. The light set over the axis of the lens creates harsh shadows, red eye, flat images and washed out colors. Other than that it works pretty well. If we do use the on camera flash it should be used as a fill light or for special effects such as stop motion shots.
The photo presented of this toucan has a natural looking background even though it appears to have been taken in an aviary at the zoo. The photographer was able to get some detail in the black feathers of the bird.
However the on camera flash has given us a very flat image almost two dimensional. The single point source light created very dark shadows on the surface of the tree that looks very unnatural. The animal is exotic and colorful but perhaps the photographer would consider looking for a way of interpreting the subject in a more interesting way.
Click on Image 
July 10th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Thanks Jim for your input. I found this shot to be very hard do to the fact of shooting through the thick glass in the display.