I was approached by someone who wanted a milk bath shoot. I have never done this before! I thought why not give it a go!
This is totally different to my preferred style of natural light location shoots, so where do I start?!
The Milk
The milk isn't actually milk! It's a soya powder alternative to milk. I'm veggie myself and I thought if I had a vegan model they wouldn't want to lay in a bath of milk, so I found this alternative! Holly, my model for this first milk bath shoot, has modelled for milk bath shoots before. She said they did used real milk for the shoot, but I couldn't imagine the amount of milk it must take!
Ideas- what to put in the water
Flowers
After doing some research I loved the look of real flowers floating on the water. The pink flowers hanging over the edge of the bath are Hyacinths which are no longer standing straight and are hanging over their pot which I thought would be perfect for hanging over the bath!
Zesty Mint
Sliced fruit also looked really good. For a different feel to the flower shots I thought I'd go for a fresh, cleaner, less over the top look using lemon, cucumber and mint. The mint was from my own garden as well, hand picked just before the shoot. I found it best to wash everything before hand as even with the flowers you can get all kinds of shrubbery floating about.
How to shoot?
Firstly I tested the idea to figure out how much powder to use and secondly to figure out the lighting. I tried using a ring light which gives lovely light and shading around the face, however it's tricky to work with as you have to deal with the reflection of the ring light in the water. If you have props then they can be placed where the reflection would be to hide it. The answer seemed to be using a speedlight off camera and using it to bounce light around the room.
Take a look at what I created below.
You can click on the images to see the full photo.
Fancy a milk bath shoot?
It's great for a maternity shoot! A unique and beautiful way to show your baby bump.
Watch this space. I have just shot another milk bath shoot with creative make up for another look.
There are more options with this type of shoot than you might think! You could try lots of ideas such as fresh flowers, zesty lemons and mint, simple greenery with plants (rather than flowers), lots of fabric, floaty dresses or get creative with make up looks.