Pictures of Hands

What are the aesthetic rules for taking pictures of hands?

The rule of thumb (no pun intended) is to photograph the sides of the hands, avoiding the palms and back of the hands as much as possible. You make the hands seem graceful by eliminating sharp bends and making hands form smooth, natural, flowing curves. Keep most of the fingers together, but relaxed. If an index finger is to be separated from the rest, keep the others together in a relaxed manner.

 

Keep in mind that photographing hands is one of the most difficult photographic endeavors. I've photographed for over 20 years and I've photographed professionally for a good number of years and I've never been able to get hand photography down pat. It's really tough.

I leard this pose from my mom, who also loves photogrpahy. She usually uses a soft focus filter. I myself chose to take this image using BW infrared film of the bride and grooms hands for an etheral look during the reception. It seems like a pretty common composition, so I took it. I don't know a lot about the rules or symbolism, but I'd like to hear what others have to say.

Nice one Steve.

 

If we think photographing hands is hard, try drawing them.

 

Hands as the focal point of a photograph are so expressive.<div></div>

Im just curious, why did your picture, which is larger than mine, appear inline and mine did not?? I intended for it to appear inline. Is it because it was a gif and not jpg?

Steven, you also have to include a bit of copy in the "Caption" space provided below the

"File Name selection box... like a title or description of gear used. Even just a X will do it.

I like to do a traditional ring shot in each album.This is Portra 400NC.

I haven't got this resizing thing worked out so that the images don't turn out distorted on this site but this is what I did for my neice's wedding. I wasn't quite sure how to handle this request but this was the result.<div></div>