Now that I’ve gotten some more equipment in to assist in Dollfie photography, I decided it was time to put it all to good use. Since Rin’s last outing, she got a new outfit, a tripod mountable stand from Dollfie World, and a new mode of transportation. I’ve since acquired a new lens for my camera which has already proven itself to be great for close ups and portraits. Rin’s last outing to Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden happened to be on Mother’s Day, so pedestrian traffic was higher than normal. This time, I picked a “normal” beautiful Sunday morning, when everyone else in the area was attending church. There was barely anyone else on the grounds, which allowed me to shoot in peace.
I also chose to start near the back of the garden and move forward to further reduce running into someone early on. Enough text, time for some cute!
Somehow I’m reminded of a line from a certain Monty Python movie… something about huge tracts of land?
One of the challenges about this shoot was the weather. It was extremely hot even at 9:30am. The sun was out and humidity was up, making the mid-90s temperature feel much hotter. I’m glad that Dollfies aren’t really bothered by the heat, though I can only imagine what a person would feel like wearing that outfit…
It was so warm that I almost wished I could go under those water streams. Sadly, neither Rin nor my camera equipment would have done too well with it…
I resorted to looking for some shadier areas to shoot in, but even that didn’t give a whole lot of relief. There wasn’t much breeze that day either, so the still air just made it worse.
Nevertheless, the shade of the trees meant less sunlight. I wasn’t as hot and Rin’s fair complexion didn’t get overexposed as easily or get hit by odd shadows.
The garden was still running an exhibit of “artistic” seating arrangement. This particular one was made of a split tree branch and some netting. I didn’t try it personally, but it looks quite comfy.
These shots came together completely by accident. I went to pose Rin for looking at the flower and started shooting. Then I noticed something moving on the branch. The insect made for a great bonus! I’d recommend checking out the full size versions of both if you can’t spot the insect in the smaller versions. ^.^
The tripod mounted stand gave me a lot of versatility in shooting different scenes. I really liked the added height and allowed me to pose Rin in such a way that made it look like she was more full sized.
When I first saw this statue, I thought it would be a perfect shot to mimic. I’m considering entering this into the garden’s photo contest this year… I wonder if they’ll take dolls as subjects?
Despite the hot weather, it was a great outing that yielded some really nice shots. The low traffic made it much easier to set up and shoot, nor did I have to wait for the background to clear out.
How Do You Figure? 
Nice photoshoot of Rin! That gothic kimono akin outfit looks great on her! ^^
Some lovely shots, the one with the insect is a great one, very impressive and a lucky coincidence.
Looks like fun! That shot of Rin posing with the statue is really funny xD
I’m considering entering some of these in the Garden’s “shutterbug” contest. I think they have a category for “people” and “events,” I wonder if Dollfie counts?
Your DOF could go 2 or three more stops down. The background is kind of distracting. Just my opinion. Great, shots still. ^_^
In some of those shots, it would have been a bit difficult since the morning sun was so bright. In several places, the best I could do was 2.8 or 3.2 with the shutter speed at 1/4000. In the shade, I was actually able to go to 1.8, but even then I had to get to a 1/500 shutter.