We’ve all seen those beautiful dreamy milk bath portraits of mothers and/or babies. The subjects look incredibly peaceful, yet extremely artistic. Some are full of props such as flowers, while others use a very minimal amount of props - or no props at all. Either way, there are five steps for creating the perfect milk bath portrait.
Five Steps for Perfect Milk Bath Portraits
Gather your materials. You will need:
milk - honestly any kind of milk will do the trick. I use whole milk. I have even used a mother’s breast-milk before!
camera - WITH a camera strap. You don’t want your fancy camera to fall into the milk bath!
bathtub - think out of the box…or tub shall we say! You don’t have to have a nice claw foot bathtub. You can use a kiddie pool, bucket…anything that is big enough for the person’s body that will hold water.
Get ready.
Fill the tub with water and then add the milk. There’s no magic amount of milk to add. Just add enough to create the opaqueness that you are seeking. Bonus tip - it’s easier to add more milk than to take it away.
Keep the water temperature in mind. You want the water warm enough for your subject to be comfortable, but not so warm the flowers or other props are negatively affected.
Lighting. If you are interested in creating a dreamy effect, natural light from a window will be the best lighting since it will be soft. If natural light is not an option, consider using a flash pointed to the ceiling.
Perspective. Feel free to stand on the sides of the tub to get a shot direct above your subject. Play with angles by trying to capture the scene from a different perspective. Use ladders or chairs to stand on as well to help you get in position to capture an image from a unique perspective.
Capture the image. Experiment with different poses and movement. Make waves, splash, rise from the water, etc. Take more photos than you think you’ll need because one the tub is drained, it’s drained.
Run a bath, add some milk and give milk bath photography a try! Photograph a friend or get a friend to photograph you - everyone looks great in a milk bath! Whatever you do, have fun and enjoy the experience!