Day Nine, Learning Nine: Posing hands

 

Learning, I’m finding, tends to go in trends.  From yesterday’s exploration of posing the body, I’m going further to working specifically with hands.  Hands often look awkward on camera; they’re very complicated limbs.  So here are some more tips for working with models:

1.  As before, keep the hand and wrist relaxed (can’t emphasize that enough)

2.  Have them do something:  adjusting rings, bracelets, watches; twirling hair

3. Remember to create gaps with your hands as well.  Let us see through them

4. For women, keep the pinky side closest to the camera.  Never face the back of the hand towards the camera

5. When hands are one hips, lift the palm up so that its cupped; don’t let it sustain weight

6. Fingers on a hand should all point in the same basic direction.  Don’t “splay” them out

7. When hands are at the face, avoid actually touching.  It smears make-up and creates indentation shadows

8.  And finally, when in doubt, lift the forefinger like in ballet