A C182 pilot pondered the protocol for communications with ATC when on a VFR flight utilizing flight following.

Narrative

I departed in VFR conditions enroute to L45. Visibility was more than 10 miles. Clouds were scattered with bases around 3;500 MSL and tops around 4;500 MSL. While in my initial climb I contacted Bakersfield Approach for flight following and advised I was climbing to 5;500 MSL and was given a squawk code. When I arrived at 5;500 MSL I was sufficiently above the scattered clouds but it appeared from that altitude that the cloud cover was increasing as we proceeded south. Rather than fly above a ceiling and shoot an approach I decided to descend down to roughly 2;200 to fly beneath the clouds. In order to do that I did a right 360 degree descending turn. Upon arriving at 2;200 MSL; Bakersfield Approach contacted me and indicated that radar contact had been lost. I advised them of my current location relative to EHF and advised that I had descended to 2;200 MSL to get below the clouds. My transmission was acknowledged and nothing else was said. The remainder of the flight was uneventful.The reason that I am writing this report is because it raises an issue that I continue to be confused by. On the one hand; I was VFR; not on a flight plan; and altitude was at my discretion. I had received no direction from ATC regarding a hard altitude and I was perfectly within my rights to descend without advising ATC. On the other hand; I did descend below radar coverage; and if I had thought about it; I would have realized that was going to be the case. So the polite thing for me to do would have been to advise Bakersfield Approach that I was beginning a circling descent to get below the clouds so when I dropped off of their screen they would not be surprised.But here is the issue. I have on a number of occasions been VFR with flight following and have advised Approach/Center that I was beginning a VFR descent. Sometimes they acknowledge my transmission and indicate 'VFR altitudes your discretion.' Other times I have done the same thing and I have gotten the distinct impression that I was bothering the controller; that I should know that I do not have to advise them of the descent; and I must be a 'new' to the 'system.' In short; I have been made to feel like I made a mistake. I think that this is a situation that should be clarified in primary training. Does ATC want us to advise them of altitude changes or not? For my purposes; I think I will continue to err on the side of providing too much information; rather than too little. So given my view; I should have advised ATC that I was performing a circling descent to get under the clouds and in the future that is what I will do. I just hope that ATC views that as my trying to cooperate rather than bothering them with useless information.