On Photographing Hands

Posing and Photographing Hands

When photographing people, we often focus on facial expressions, eyes, and so on. We don’t have to worry about hands when we capture headshots (portraits showing only the head and the shoulders of a person), but if we show more than the head and shoulders, we have to include hands. So, how do we pose and photograph hands?

What do we do with the model’s hands? Do we show them? Not show them? How and how much of the hands do we show?

By posing hands, we can evoke mood, capture gesture, and tell stories.

A few things to keep in mind when posing models’ hands:

• try to minimize the surface of the hand facing the camera; that is, make sure that the side of the hand faces the camera

• give hands something to do–for example, hold a book, phone, hat, etc.

• Have fun while at it, too

• Use hands as a framing device for the subject’s face
• Use hand gesture to tell the story or to add intrigue to the visual story
• Capture hands in a pose that sends a message, makes a point

• The general idea is not to point limbs directly at the camera, but sometimes, in order to emphasize a story, these poses can empower the message sent through that image.

• Tell the story using only hands and hand gesture

• look for gesture also when you photograph statues, memorials, and monuments:

or

These are only a few ideas for posing and photographing hands. As always, thanks for stopping by.

Alina Oswald