Rub A Dub Dub

[R-NAGE Photography]

RJJ LR -3891-2 by Ryan Jensen, on Flickr
Any tips on how to defuse the light more in this shot? I wanted more detail in the bubbles to the side and behind. Soft box? Higher F stop? Alien Bee bounced off ceiling Nikon d600 with 28-300. 28mm 1/200 f3.5 iso 100. It was a cramped space. Thanks in advance

 

[Derrel]

Maybe apply a bit of minus clarity in post. The light you created on-scene looks like it was fairly soft-shadowed, but the large, illuminated ceiling area does create a "source" for the big, broad highlights on the baby's arm, and the forehead a tiny bit, and the frontal planes of the face, and on top of the non-bubbled water. In a word, the lighting while "soft" and also diffused, is also a fairly "crisp" and "hot" source; this is a look that one gets when a studio type flash is fired off of a ceiling in a cramped space--it creates a lot of highlighting on surfaces that reflect. Still, I think that the toning down could be done in post, using minus clarity, and maybe a little bit of highlight recovery on the whites. Minus clarity ought to bring more detail to the bubbles.

 

[R-NAGE Photography]

I will have to go see what I can do in lightroom. I think it was too hot to start with and that detail might be gone. Good insight thank you!

 

[The_Traveler]

The hot spot on his cheek will need to be fixed by cloning.
It look like the reflection was too much from the ceiling.
Perhaps try to emulate a lightbox with a white sheet suspended in front of the bathtub to diffuse the light.

(It would be easier to show examples of changes if you allow editing.)