CLIEN T: Wi T Media
PRINCIPAL: Clint White
ART DIRECTOR: Sean Keepers
Clint White, prinCipal of Wit Media, an ad agenCy
in new york City that specializes in working with arts and
culture organizations, hired Max hirshfeld, a dC photogra-
pher, to shoot a campaign promoting the twenty-fifth an-
niversary of the national Museum of Women in the arts in
Washington, dC, with ads in newspapers, bus kiosks, maga-
zines and outdoor banners. White, hirshfeld and art director
Sean Keepers came up with the idea of creating a series of
environmental portraits of artists and art lovers. one of the
first portraits hirshfeld shot shows sculptor Chakaia Booker
in front of her enormous wall-mounted sculpture located in
the museum’s contemporary art gallery.
hirshfeld recognized a technical problem he would need
to solve when he scouted the gallery and saw Booker’s sculp-
ture, titled “acid rain,” a large and intricate weaving made
from rubber tires. “the main challenge with this was getting
detail from the sculpture’s intense matte-black materials.”
Without strong illumination, he says, “it’s going to stay black
but really it’s going to look dead.”
he knew immediately he wanted to use a ring light.
though he typically uses a ring light in what he calls “a
supporting role,” in this portrait, it would take center
stage. “What it does technically better than anything is
to fill shadows and bring information into the middle of
the range of illumination,” he says. “i couldn’t have come
up with a better solution to get light into those nooks
and crannies.”
Max Hirshfeld
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can see the effect of the ring light, but it doesn’t become
the dominant light.”
the ring light illuminated most of the center of the
sculpture, but the outer corners needed more light. he
chose to use two 2400 w/s profoto packs, both bare heads,
which matched the illumination of the bare ring light. he
positioned these on camera left and camera right, about
three feet from the sculpture, and placed them on stands
about 14 feet above the floor, “aimed pretty close to the
white wall but aimed down at 45 degree angles.”
he notes, “With the ring light and the other lights, it
was enough to illuminate the wall behind [the sculpture],
so i had some white to pick up on when i went into post.”
Before the shoot, hirshfeld had been told that Booker
would be a shy subject. “i love it when i shoot portraits
and i get to talk to my subjects,” the photographer says. to
put her at ease, he asked the clients to leave the set, and
gave his subject directions, asking her to walk and move
in front of her piece. “i could put her in different points of
the frame. With the ring light setup, i didn’t have to say,
‘Chakaia, stay right here.’” the lighting, which illuminated
the sculpture, gave her a range to move around in. “it al-
lowed her to be anywhere in the frame and still be in the
illumination of the ring light. i think because of her shy-
ness, it helped.” the lighting also showed her face and the
texture of her trademark headdress.
hirshfeld’s favorite shot in the series shows her gesturing towards an invisible viewer.
LOGISTICS: the museum’s contemporary art gallery is a
large space with high ceilings. “there’s enough space so
i could pull back and work comfortably.” hirshfeld set up
his camera and tripod more than 15 feet from the sculpture. though there is ambient light from a bank of windows, “it didn’t affect this shot,” hirshfeld notes.
“What i usually do is shoot a few frames without any
lighting,” he says. Shooting digitally, he checks his lens and
setup. “then it becomes an additive process.”
a large piece of black felt he had brought along to use
when shooting other parts of the museum, and to cover
glass on paintings that were reflecting light, proved handy.
the last step in setting up his portrait of Booker was to lay
the felt over the “not unattractive beige carpet,” tucking it
under the sculpture. “i knew that the floor areas not covered by the felt could be cleaned up in post production.”
CAMERA: hirshfeld used a Canon eoS-1d Mark ii on a
gitzo tripod with a Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 l USM lens at
27mm; f/11.
POST PRODUCTION: the client chose eight to ten favorite images from the shoot, and hirshfeld did his own
photoshopping to clean up details. “it was not a complicated post production on this but a necessary step.” he
cleaned up and extended the black felt in spots where
beige carpeting was visible. “in post, i had to go in and
clean up certain areas where the ring light died off.” the
50 mb files were large enough to work in full-page newspaper ads and outdoor advertising. hirshfeld is currently
shooting more images for the campaign, which will
eventually include 25 subjects, in celebration of the museum’s twenty-fifth anniversary.
LIGHTING: the ring light, developed for medical imaging, has gone in and out of favor, first adopted by fashion photographers and then by portrait shooters. “the
look of a ring light isn’t everyone’s favorite because it’s
harsh,” hirshfeld notes. “i tend to dial it up slowly so you
© Max HirsHfeld
The sculpture, made of matte-black rubber, needed strong
illumination. Using a ring light not only brought out the sculpture’s
details, but helped Max Hirshfeld as he directed his portrait subject.
www.pdnonline.com
To see Max Hirshfeld’s test shot and
more portraits from the campaign,
visit the “Features” section of
PDNOnline this month.
