Our Own Mr. Fixit

1/180 second, F 4.0, ISO 800

During the Pandemic, Dean, a Burlingame resident, opened his garage workshop and offered to repair his neighbor's ailing small appliances. 

I knew that there would be several visual elements in play. I obviously needed my subject, but I wanted to include things that said, "garage". There were two options available: I could make the photo with my back to the open garage door, or I could include the street as part of the background. After unpacking a minimum amount of equipment, I took some sketch photos.

1/250 second, F 5.6, ISO 3200

I made this available light shot, just to get an idea of where I could start. I was surprised on how much detail was retained in the "shadows" while keeping the highlights pretty much in check. The photo had some possibilities if I could manage to get a small, recognizable appliance on the workbench. The background whispered garage workshop, but I was hoping for something more visual. Sure, I could pull a Joe McNally and completely stage the small workshop to point where it resembled a set from This Old House.

1/125 second, F 4.0, ISO 800

I decided to add some flash to decrease the disparity between the shadow and highlights and improve the color rendition. I used my standard setup: A shoot-through umbrella with a radio-controlled speedlight. To the good, the flash helped to fill in the shadows while keeping the feel of the bare fluorescent tubes. To the bad, I lost much of the intimacy provided by the selective lighting. I was able to reduce the foreground brightness by tilted the flash head towards the ceiling.

I was pleased with the outcome, background not withstanding, and was about to suggest that we move an appliance onto the table. But when I realized the "workbench" was where Dean was eating his breakfast, I decided to look elsewhere for my shot.

I turned to find Dean  working on a vacuum cleaner resting on the floor. Not the location I wanted, but by facing out, I could see the street and his Vespa in the corner. 

Since my key light was already in place from the last shot, I simply rotated it towards Dean and adjusted the flash output slightly. I also added a Nikon SB-80DX, aimed at the Vespa, and configured it to fire in synchronization with the key light. I attempted to contain the Nikon's output to a narrow beam angle, but due to some design quirks of the reflector, didn't contain the spread to the extent I wanted. Still, with the light feathered slightly to the right, I contained the light to the corner of the garage. 

Try as I did to get a "working on it" photo, it proved almost impossible due to the low angle necessary to capture any details of Dean's face without distorting the background. In the end, this posed photo was to best option, as it gave the photo a more personal feeling.

My editor was pleased with the final effort. I felt I achieved the "garage handyman" sense of the photograph, and was able to keep all the necessary visual elements properly exposed. Had I brought a trunk full of lighting equipment I probably could have spent another 30 minutes perfecting to photo, but I don't think anybody would have noticed any major improvement. Besides, Dean had other things to repair!