Hands can be extremely expressive and can help to define the character and mood of the sitter. Equally, clumsily posed hands can ruin a potentially strong portrait—but luckily there are some simple guidelines that will help you get good results every time.
Hands can make a portrait, giving animation to the pose and revealing something of your subject’s character. They can also totally destroy a portrait if they are too dominant or if they catch and reflect too much of the key light.
Decide at the outset what part the hands will play. If they are not important, make sure they do not pick up any highlight—or even hide them from view behind the subject’s back or in a pocket. (However, leaving the thumbs out of the pockets, which shows more of the back of the hand, looks better than hiding them completely.)
If you want the hands to be visible, there is a very simple way of making them look elegant. If the hand is positioned above the subject’s waist level, the wrist should be bent slightly so that the hand points upward, as this looks more natural. When the hand is positioned below the waist, allow it to fall downward; this is the position our hands naturally adopt when we stand.
The hand can become very dominant, especially when it is flat on to camera; this is why we usually show the side, rather than the palm or the back, of the hand, as it is always more pleasing to the eye and makes the hand look slimmer.
Tips:
If your subjects find it hard to pose their hands, try getting them to hold a pen and then remove it, keeping their fingers in the same position.
If you are not sure whether or not to include the hands, leave them out.
The side of the hand looks more attractive and slimmer in a portrait than the back of the hand or the palm.
