Harsh flashes suck. Not having enough light sucks. Being poor sucks. Therefor, I have created a flash bounce that goes on your camera, uses your built in flash, and costs about nothing and no time to make, and increases photography skills by about 20 points.

You need:
scissors,
cardboard,
tape like I used to keep it on the camera better, but its not necessary

Step 1: Find Cardboard

It should be white on one side. You need a rectangle about 4" by 6" at most, depending on your camera.

Step 2: Cut It Out

Add notches to it so that it will attach to your camera's flash by friction. Looks something like this.

Step 3: Bend It and Stick It On

About 45 degrees up to bounce off the ceiling and wall behind you.

Step 4: Take Pictures

Try it out. It works best when there is a white wall behind you, as it takes the color of whatever it bounces off of and puts it on your subject.

The first pic is no flash, second is normal flash, third is with the bounce.