New to forums and have ? about lighting

[tmnitz]

I am a children's photographer. I do this on the "side" as a "profession" although right now I'm not feeling too professional.
I'm having some lighting issues and need some advice. I stumbled across this site today while doing a google search and I must say it seems quite helpful... so I'm jumping in. Hope that is ok.

I have a Nikon D70 and use Alien Bee 400 strobes with a softbox for my main and umbrella for fill. I have a Sekonic L358 meter. I'm having problems with the camera underexposing after plugging in the light meter readings and having some difficulites with blown areas in my photos. Not sure exaclty what I am doing wrong. Would love someone to help me out.. advice is always appreciated.
You can view some of my work at www.nitzphotography.com

Thanks,
Tina

[JCPhoto1]

Hi Tina
Could you explain how your metering and the setting on the D70. Maybe that would help with us understanding what's going wrong. I had problems with metering my strobes. I had left on auto ISO and didn't realize it. Sometimes it's the little things.

[Peter_AUS]

Tina, one of the things you have to do with the Sekonic is to make sure you calibrate the instrument first, otherwise what you get as a reading might not be the correct reading. Have a look in the Manual for the calibration instructions.