How to pose your hands in a headshot
Sometimes people in front of our cameras ask us what to do with their hands before we even say “smile.” Even when you know the photo is cropped tight enough to not even see your hands in the picture, it can feel SO awkward to stand there and smile at big tube of glass with lights pointed at you from all angles. Awkward enough to make it impossible not to be suddenly aware of every single body part and where it should or should not be placed so you don’t look like a sack of potatoes with a mouth.
And it’s not unreasonable to want to know what to do with your hands for a photo of your head. Where we place our hands can actually have a huge impact on the look of a portrait. If you haven’t noticed, your hands are connected to your arms, which are connected to your shoulders; and if your shoulders are in a weird position it will instantly make you look far less relaxed, casual, and confident as you want to look.
So what do you do with your hands in a photo?
Instead of just telling you, let’s show you with this video:
What we learned from the video is that the studio dog is adorable.
But also some great tips on hand posing for photos:
Hands can look too big and draw attention away from your face if they’re not minimized with posing. Make your hands look smaller in a photo by facing the side or edge of your hand to the camera and not the back of your hand or your palm toward the camera.
If you cross your arms, tuck your hands under instead of on top. This will minimize the size of your hands, as well as make the pose look more casual in general.
Curve your hands instead of keeping your fingers straight. The longer your fingers look in a photo, the larger your hands will seem, and long, straight fingers will look like you’re pointing toward something. Pointing toward something will draw a viewers eye toward that area of the photo.
Keep your thumb in your pocket. It looks more natural since the rest of your hand is hidden in your pocket, and a thumb sticking out will look like a finger pointing at something.
Stagger your hands. Keep your hands separated if you can, since two hands next to each other will make them look bigger in a photo.
Roll the boogie. This is a classic modeling technique to get an effortless-looking pose for your hands. Imagine you picked your nose and are gently rolling a booger in between two fingers. This curves your fingers and makes your hands look active without drawing attention.
