Labradoodle Photography – Daphne

Daphne is an 18-month labradoodle full of personality and adores running around and playing. Her energy levels are extremely high, and her owners, Ellie and Mason, say that Daphne could walk all day and still not be tired!

I’ve had one photoshoot with Daphne, which took place in a natural beauty spot.

Without further ado, let’s see how we all got on!

Amidst botanical beauty

This photoshoot took place in the local botanical grounds, home to a plethora of floral charm. Spring colours were beginning to poke through, and the flowers were genuinely delightful. It was a gorgeous spring day with white cotton wool clouds, blue sky and intermittent bright sunshine.
I tell you this because, much to people’s surprise, bright sunshine can be the photographer’s nemesis.
Daphne, as beautiful as she is, presents specific challenges when taking her photograph; why? The colour of her fur.

Photography is a technical pursuit; as a photographer, I capture and shape light, much like a traditional artist. But there are challenges with capturing light in a camera, mainly if the subject is black or white, or worse, black and white. I won’t bore you with the detail; just know that black or white subjects pose a real challenge if you want to capture the detail of the fur. If you don’t believe me, try taking a picture of a swan on a sunny day, you end up with a white blob with a head and very little feather detail.
The difficulty arises because white fur can become overexposed (too bright) and black fur underexposed (too dark).

So, how did I overcome photographing a white dog?

Daphne’s fur is off-white with apricot undertones. Still, if the correct exposure wasn’t dialled into the camera settings, you wouldn’t see any of the detail or subtle tones. I had to consider:

• The environment – flowers, trees, grass and colours.
• Where the sunlight was falling
• Could we get a picture in the shade?
• What was in the foreground, mid-ground and background?

With some on-the-spot planning and lots of patience, I think we cracked it and managed to get some beautiful shots of Daphne surrounded by the local flora.

How did we hold Daphne’s attention?

Daphne’s true love is her ball; it doesn’t matter which ball; she’s even mistaken an apple for a ball in the past, so you get the picture!

In order for Daphne to pose correctly, her owners held a ball above the camera lens, and I mean literally sat atop the lens. She followed it like a hawk, meaning I captured her looking straight down the middle of my lens, just perfect.

But here’s a great piece of advice – make sure you reward the dog after each pose. If you can get the dog to associate having their picture taken with receiving their favourite toy or treat, it makes life that little bit easier. And once we’d finished taking a few shots in the same position, Daphne received her ball, which meant she knew she wasn’t staring at it for no reason.
Toys are a terrific way to keep your dog looking in the right direction and sitting still.

I also managed to capture Daphne’s energy in a few running shots.

This involved Ellie running alongside Daphne to encourage her to sprint. Another technique was to have Ellie stand stationary while throwing the ball toward me so I could capture the chaos of her chasing down her ball; believe me when I say that it’s a bit hairy to have a dog running full pelt at you while you try to take their picture.

Here’s Daphne in her element, sprinting towards the camera. Just look at those ears!

Ellie and Mason chose this photo below as their favourite.

Daphne’s surrounded by daffodils. She was quite literally sitting in a field of them!

Would you like to capture your dog’s personality in some memorable photos? Feel free to get in touch via email. Prefer to talk? Call my mobile to discuss your options.