Daphne Reynolds studied at Huddersfield College of Art, but did not take up a career as an artist and printmaker until middle-age. In the 1950s she was able to take up painting as a full-time pursuit, and in the early 1970s she embarked on a career as a printmaker, having studied with Anthony Gross at the Slade School of Fine Art.

Encouraged by Gross, Reynolds focussed on making mezzotints. Mezzotints offer a particular technical challenge to the printmaker but the rich velvety texture which can be achieved is very effective for reproducing paintings. Reynolds mastered the medium, and promoted it; wrote noted essays on the subjects, and was included in a number of important exhibitions including 'The Mezzotint Rediscovered' at Colnaghi's in 1974. At the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers (1985-6) she won the Barcham Green Award. Her subjects included landscapes seen on her travels (particularly the desert scenery of Arizona and New Mexico) and every day domestic objects (a flat-iron, icing cones, a scarf) and witty slightly surreal subjects such as an image of five Lemon Soles.