A few words on light meters.

When shooting studio shots like the ones I talked about, you use a flash meter. When doing that to accurately judge the right exposure, keep this in mind:

• Have a spare battery at hand
• Move the dome out. Do not leave it screwed in.
• Use the meter in Flash-metering mode!
• Only flash one flash at a time. Turn off other flashes when you meter one.
• Start with your key light; then one by one meter the other flashes. These will be darker generally.
• Ensure your meter is set to the right ISO.

Then use the measured aperture as your starting point and check the histograms on your camera for fine adjustments. I believe that “exposing to the right” is generally a good idea.

Also, don’t forget to use a grey card to get a nice white balance reference target.