Posing with limbs

Hands and limbs can play an important part in any portrait, but how and when you use them needs to be carefully considered

I often find the most awkward thing for subjects is what they do with their hands or limbs, and although I play it down to them, where and how their limbs are placed can make all the difference. They shouldn’t be distracting or awkward, and need attention as part of the subject’s stance or pose.

Every person you photograph is an individual, and so are the adjustments you’ll want to make. You might be taking a series of images that follow the same format, but with photography it is never ‘one size fits all’, so be aware of the person in front of your lens, and their body proportions and stance.

I advise firstly that you want them to be as natural as possible, so don’t ask the person to do something with their position, stance or limbs that feels completely unnatural for them, because it will be very obvious in the final image that they weren’t comfortable. My start point is to ask them to stand/sit or pose how they’d like to, and then I work from there to correct and adjust so it looks as good incamera as possible. I always begin by taking a shot and looking at it as an image, as that often looks different to how you see it with the naked eye.

It’s always good to advise someone when their hands will not appear in the image, because this might help them relax, but bear in mind the position of hands affects shoulders, which will be visible even in a headshot. Keep an eye out for clawed hands or positions that magnify parts of the body you don’t want; the part of the body closest to the camera will appear the biggest, so don’t ask someone with a small body frame to lean into the camera, as you’ll make their head size exaggerate and their body shrink. Looking out for these things is really about paying attention to the details, but it is these small parts that create the sum of an amazing image. And remember you can always eliminate certain elements, so if a part of the body just isn’t working or looks distracting, then crop it out the shot.

“Every person you

photograph is an individual, and so are the adjustments you’ll

want to make”

Above HAND POSITION using hands in an image can be effective, as long as they add and don’t distract from the portrait

Below FULL BODY Limbs can be used to frame the image, and turn an otherwise simple shot into something more vibrant