Outdoor with/without Fill

[idrive]

Guys,

Just recently purchased a 50d & Tamron 17-50 2.8 and lets just say i'm going through the motions of playing and taking a lot of shots of nothing in particular but enjoying just playing with settings and seeing the effect.

On the weekend the kids were heading to a dress up party so i got them out the back and took a number of photos. The sun was high 11am and as can be seen this created quite harsh shadows and therefore i used the flash in the second shot.


IMG_0204 by idrive5, on Flickr



IMG_0205 by idrive5, on Flickr


I guess just after advice as techniques to avoid this and/or improve shooting in these conditions.

Thanks in advance