to diffuse or not to diffuse ...that is the question!

[Hooked4Life]

I am using a c-5050 and was shooting with ISO 64 and full auto. I did not use the internal flash for 90% of my shots. Here are some examples:

All of these are taken not using the flash except for the hawk fish. I have decided to purchase a strobe for added flexibility, but the internal flash worked quite well.

 

[Eya]

did you edit shots in photoshop? level, colours..?

 

[anthonyS]

ciao Eya! mi manca l'isola d'elba e le gorgonie, sei fortunata...
this is an interesting link. I want to know have any of you guys tested the diffuser/no diffuser u/w?
if the water is dirty the diffuser will make no difference, but removing will let you use f8 (good for depth of field) without underexposing. I use the flash in low vis here in scotland, just get near to 30cm and backscatter will be very low...no matter how bad the vis is.
You can use iso400 for scenic shots without flash. there will be a lot of noise but it doesnt matter becasue you run your photos through a software called neatimage ( freeware from www.neatimage.com) this software does miracles to image quality...noise is not a problem!
I use the auto white balance all the time, it gives cleaner shots and then I can run the photo through photoshop elements or gimp to get it looking perfect...forget about filters or manual/cloudy white balance...they dont help...use software!