Taken on Phi Phi with cyber shot.

Taken with a sea and sea G1 camera and housing on Tao

The boat shot is great EXCEPT it's lacking flash.

I was endorsing the use of fill-in-flash in another thread and this is a classic example that's screaming out for a bit of fill in on the boatman. it would, imho, have turned a good shot into an exceptional shot. Thai skin INSISTS on flash!

Nevertheless an excellent image, well composed with lots of atmosphere.

so how would you do the fill-in flash here? in a P'n'Shoot camera it would be overexposed, and if not knowing what to adjust on a dslr it would be overexposed as well, if an external flash - which settings would you recommend?

External flash: meter for the background (say) 125th @ f8, set the flash to between -1 and -2 stops (i.e. f4 - f5.6) depending on your preference and the prominence or otherwise you wish to allocate to the "flashed in" subject. On the other hand if you wish to "marry" in the shaded subject use + 1 - + 2 stops (f11 - f16). My flash guns will enable F stop settings or ISO variations

Never used a point and shoot but "presume" the camera can accommodate built in fill-in-flash.

My point was, that despite whether you have the ability or otherwise to use flash, it's use in this case would have enhanced the image.

OR DO YOU DISAGREE?

I agree, just curious how to do it properly as I have no clue. thanks for sharing!

Vulcan's assessment of the top pic is pretty good. Its good composition.

The pic of the fish would also benefit from more lighting.

Pics of fish generally look better when taken from the same level of the fish or just slightly below.

With underwater photography its very hard to be too close to the subject.

Cheers

External flash: meter for the background (say) 125th @ f8, set the flash to between -1 and -2 stops (i.e. f4 - f5.6) depending on your preference and the prominence or otherwise you wish to allocate to the "flashed in" subject. On the other hand if you wish to "marry" in the shaded subject use + 1 - + 2 stops (f11 - f16). My flash guns will enable F stop settings or ISO variations

Experimentation is the answer here.

The Vulcan has given a good starting point,

but you have to play with settings and find out what produces the best results.

At first, forget about taking "good" photos, just try out all the settings

on the camera and see what it is capable of.

My rule of thumb is to use fill flash when in direct sun. Most cameras are smart enough to balance the fill. If you go manual your LCD will help you get it right. Many people think flash is for low light when actually flash is usually destructive in low light, but sometimes you have no choice.