camera flash only go as far as 10 feet. you dont need a gnd to take a picture like the one you posted here. you use gnd in a situation when say, the sky on the upper half of the scene is much brighter than your foreground in the lower half of the scene, say by 3-5 stops difference.
you can always try hdr. the downside is, the composite photos sometimes look quite fake, depending on the scene, the lighting condition and the way you play with it with the software.