It looks like your flash is working in those photos . Because the one with the flash pointing forward is clearly overexposed . Maybe something is wrong with the TTL . I would double check your metering settings on your camera and anything else that could affect it . I don ' t use TTL flashes so I ' m not sure as I only use manual flashes for OCF work . Edit Maybe in the first set of photos you posted of the legos , the flash didn ' t go off for some reason . Maybe it wasn ' t done recycling yet but your camera took another photo , or something weird happened and it just didn ' t go off for whatever reason . It happens to me sometimes too . Like if I ' m out taking portraits with off camera flashes , sometimes my speedlights can ' t catch up and I end up with a few shots that are underexposed because the flashes didn ' t go off .