Christmas just round the corner..

[lingk]

Can anyone tell me, am i doing it right or is there a better way?

I was out with my family last night at ION. Nice lighting both indoors & outdoors. Tried on both background type with a 580 II. End up with my subject OK but dark background or not enough details. So, I then try to take a test reading this way: without my subject & without flash, set my cam to Av & set aperture to F11 & on auto-ISO and record what my cam choose in terms of shutter speed & ISO. I then switch to Manual mode and set both the shutter, aperture & ISO accordingly. Next, with subject in place, I turn on my flash & pointing it toward the sky but with the white screen extended to bounce the light towards the subject. I would need at least 2 shot to get the right exposure for both my subject & background.

My next question is, is this the way we use an expensive-top-of-the-range flash with E-TTL but still need the human brain to get the right exposure?

Or maybe, it's just me?

 

[karnage]

Why do you need to set to f11? U want both subject and background to be sharp?

I believe you just need to expose for the background lights, and eTTL will take care of your subject. If you're using lower ISO, I believe you'd need a tripod because shutter speed is gonna be pretty low.

Perhaps some pictures and information would be helpful...

 

[Octarine]

My next question is, is this the way we use an expensive-top-of-the-range flash with E-TTL but still need the human brain to get the right exposure?
Or maybe, it's just me?

It is you and your brain - cameras cannot read your mind (maybe in future?) so you need to give the right input. Cameras can do certain things much faster and more accurate than humans (exposure calculation) but whether this fits the scen and the moment is your call.
First, read up about the key parameters aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Then read about exposure metering in the different modes with flash (Flash with Canon EOS). No point using Manual mode if you just copy the settings from a Program Mode, the result will be the same. Aperture and shutter speed, both affect the flash result. Use a tripod at home, mount the flash and do a series of test shots. You'll notice how and when it happens. Keep an eye on the topic "x-sync speed".
Pointing a 580 into the night sky where the bounce card only uses a small fraction of the light is not really the purpose of it. There are other kinds of diffusers and reflectors that give more possibilities to manage the light.