Flash Metering and Exposure

These are SOOC. Taken with 40d, ISO 100, Manual Mode. I am using a Sekonic L-718 meter with the dome and metered on the cheek camera right. The Meter reading was f16.5 @ 125 ISO 100

the first shot was taken with the meters exposure. to me is is underexposed. the second shot was f/14@ 125 ISO 100. and look better to me (and to the histogram BTW).

Is it common for the meter reading to be off this much? Should I Adjust the meter of the camera to compensate

Thanks
MIke

F14 to F16.5 is less than a stop. It could be that your meter/camera combination are that far out of calibration.
The best way to confirm meter readings compared to camera exposure for capture is to include a color checker or other known value reference in the test.

I use a Color checker passport or the large color checker. In Lightroom the white square should read about 94% if the exposure is right on.

There is a page on my tutorial website describing how I fine tune exposure with a color checker.

You should calibrate your camera/lens/meter. I have as much as a 2/3 stop difference with different lens/body combinations, let alone camera body differences. Also note that color temperature will make a difference. My 24-105 under exposes by about 1/3 stop. My 50L and 85L over expose by 1/3 stop. My 40D, 5DII and 5DIII all expose differently.

When you metered at camera right cheek aimed at the light source, essentially you were reading the light as if that Main light strikes the entire face, which it actually does not do. You also have the fill side of the subject, with less light falling on it. The right way to meter flash is to put the meter at the subject center of face and point the hemisphere AT THE LENS. That way you are metering the area that the camera sees, it the entire area which is illuminated.

Metering for exposure is different than metering individual sources to determine the relative contribution of one source vs. the other.

Wilt is right.
If you were aiming your meter to the light then you were reading the light source contribution not the exposure. There is a difference, sometimes significant.

For example, here is a test shot before the model went into get dressed for the shoot.
Lights on background were metered to F11, Main light was metered to F11, fill light was metered to F8.

Then I metered with the dome facing the camera reading was something around F11 +.7. Nice thing about Einsteins and Cyber Commander, I selected all and reduced the settings on all the lights so the reading with dome facing camera was F11. Then proceeded with the shoot.

Do you have LR of Photoshop?

This first link is a PDF by Lee Varis
https://www.google.com …bv.43828540,d.a​WM&cad=rja

http://www.frankdoorho​f.com …t-meter-some-quick-notes/

windpig wrote in post #15716706
Do you have LR of Photoshop?

Are you asking me?
If yes, both.
And they were both used here to enhance the image but not to change how the lighting was designed or metered.

He was answering my question. I asked if there were good tutorials on calibration. I tried to edit my message and wound up deleting it in error. Sorry.

CxThree wrote in post #15716767
He was answering my question. I asked if there were good tutorials on calibration. I tried to edit my message and wound up deleting it in error. Sorry.

Ah ha!
Lightroom offers a very nice means of calibrating. There is a page on my tutorial site (see below) that describes how I go about it.