Milk Bath Photoshoot
As a fitness photographer I’m always thinking of ideas about how to display the body in artistic ways. I’ve always loved the way liquid gives a cool effect on the body’s form. In a pool, in a river or just a bathtub, bodies placed in water gives an opportunity to layer the image with another element. You can use opaque liquid to hide shapes or add another layered element like flowers or color or reflection of light. The added layered element gives the picture some depth, texture and interest.
A lot of milk bath pictures are for pregnant women but I thought, why not fitness women or any woman for that matter? Here is how it went down.
I decided on a blow up kiddie pool for my container. You can find them here. All you need is a container that a person will fit in laying down. Just fill the tub enough to cover the person 3/4 of the way up. You may need a towel to prop their head up. For this shoot with IFBB Pro Krista Dunn we used powdered milk (purchased from most major grocery stores) and flowers. I purchased some fake flowers as well as real flowers. It turns out that real flowers work best. Fake flowers sink very quickly. You will also need a ladder to shoot down from above. I have one light shooting from above down at the subject. I position the other lights to fill in where I get too much shadow. Once I’ve posed her I then add or move the flowers around to where I want them to be. You’ll have to move quickly because the flowers will start sinking or moving away from the subject.
This is a fun set up to experiment with angles and different flowers and outfits. You can get a lot of looks with one set up. After I finish with the model, I have her leave the tub and place the flowers in the tub and shoot a bunch of flowers in the tub without the model. These shots are my back up flower shots in case I need to clone in more flowers to the finished image. You have little space so I find that a 50mm or 35mm lens works best. Thanks for taking the time to read this. I hope this helps encourage you to go for it and experiment with different set ups for your photography or helps you to consider this type of experience for your next photoshoot.
