Hi everyone,
First off, I managed to fix my problem. As it turns out, the sketch I was basing my work off had the input pins 1 and 2 of the optocoupler backwards. I found a couple of other examples that mentioned the pins the opposite way I had them. I changed it and it worked.
The breadboard is a real mess with everything else I have on it so a photo would just be confusing. Here is my updated sketch:
(UPDATE: I just realized that in my sketch I have the black lead on pin 6 but it should be on pin 5 of the optocoupler)
I'll try to do a better job of describing my flash connection for Paul:
I took a cable that connects to my flash and connected alligator clips to the jack connector on the other end. One of the wires went to pin 4 of the coupler and the other went to pin 5 of the coupler (red and black wires leading away from the coupler in the diagram.
I'd like to thank everyone for their questions and suggestions. It really helped this newbie!
Carlo.