ahh yeah the flash would have bombed the image and made it too bright at that range.

was that the built in flash? dont forget that if you have an SB-600/700/900 it can be a slave flash to your built in flash and you can experiment to make fill in light instead of only a huge bomb of light.

now what i said about a slave flash to your onboard may be wrong. my time with the D90 was short lived so i dont recall exactly how or if the slave flash feature worked.

here is a little trick to play around with if you dont have one of those flash diffusers for onboard flashes.
here is a cheap diffuser - http://www.amazon.com/Opteka-Univers...8998505&sr=8-8
and one i see used more often - http://www.amazon.com/Opteka-Diffuse...8998505&sr=8-1
the 2nd is probably your best option because you get a warming and cooling screen plus its a small form factor.

take some kleenex, or toilet paper, or coffee filters (coffee filters offer the best white balance.) you can even use a piece of white copy machine paper.
cover the onboard flash (kleenex or toilet paper you might have to use two layers. but not thick you still want light to easily travel through it.
this will "diffuse" the flash so its not a huge beam of light on the subject.
you dont WRAP the flash with it so to speak... i guess i meant to say hold it up in front of the flash maybe an inch or so away from it.