TIPS AND TRICKS FOR A «CREATIVE» HAND PHOTOGRAPHY

Hands that paint, create music or work. Hands that write, greet, tend or protect, hands that speak, protest or shut up, hands that kiss or push you away ... A portrait of hands can tell you more about a person than an image of your entire body. The hands with their wrinkles, their scars, their poses, their ornaments are a whole world with an explosive load of information and emotions. Maybe the street person, but his hands will tell us what he feels, what he needs and even how much he has suffered. A hand can make a mute speak, listen to a deaf person or silence a whole class with a simple gesture, invite us to approach or "send us far away." After the face, I dare to affirm that this part of the body is the most communicating and the most striking when it comes to photographing, both for its beauty and for its symbology and expressiveness. If you agree with everything I just told you and you are attracted to this topic, read on, this post is for you.

SYMBOLOGY OF THE HANDS

The hands have a strong symbology in many religions, currents or pagan beliefs. But the most widespread is its meaning in nonverbal language and also what may interest us most in this article. Here you have some of the best known meanings:

This symbol, universal, can have several meanings, although the best known is "ok", to indicate that everything is correct, in some countries it may refer to homosexuality or something null.
The "V" sign, with the palm facing outwards means victory, while with the palm facing inward it is an obscene gesture.
Palms up and open: honesty, sincerity. Palms down: dominant position and, sometimes, little honesty.
The hand covering the mouth suggests a lie or lack of sincerity.
Biting your nails or ringing your fingers against the table shows insecurity and restlessness.
The fingertips of both hands together, demonstrate a high degree of self-confidence and security, when you think about something up and when you listen, down.
Closed hand pointing with the finger: usually indicates a dominant and somewhat aggressive position.
Crossed hands behind the back provide great self-confidence and a dominant position. While if what we take are the dolls we will be giving away insecurity and restlessness.
Crossing your arms leaving your thumbs out or putting your hands in your pockets with them outside also means mastery and power, since the thumbs represent the strength of character.
In a handshake: vertical hands point to equality. One above means mastery, control, and below, submission, moderation.
The crossed arms are understood as a defensive attitude.

Below I will give you some tips to photograph not only the hands, but what they want to tell us. Also, I bring you lots of examples and inspiring photographs of this part of the body that we like so much.

PLAY WITH THE LIGHT

You can mainly achieve two effects only with the handling of light. On the one hand, if the hands are the part of the photo in which the light falls, you will enhance its prominence and will further arouse the viewer's interest. On the other hand, you can use soft light or hard light depending on what you want to transmit. A soft light will help you communicate softer moods, tenderness, innocence, love ... while a hard light will bring more drama.

Soft light

Hard light. In this example you can also observe how the light concentrates all the prominence in the hands.

USE A VERY SMALL DEPTH OF FIELD

Work with a wide diaphragm opening so that when you blur the background you eliminate other distractions and the focus is only on what the hands want to tell us or on the effect you want to create.

In this case the author has highlighted the hand on the subject playing with depth of field.

INCLUDE YOUR HANDS IN YOUR PORTRAITS

The portraits gain strength and communicate much more if the hands appear, they can transmit reflection, shyness, boredom, shame, sadness, joy ... The same face expression, with a hand gesture will say much more. Look at these two examples. In the first image, the face of the man is barely visible, however his hands convey everything he feels in a much more original portrait.

Sadness, desolation ... is what the hands transmit covering the face of this man.

In this second photograph, the hand that hides part of the girl's face, only highlights her gaze and expression. Surely, without that hand, the portrait would have been somewhat bland.

See how the hand makes the look stand out.

TELL STORIES WITH YOUR HANDS

Try to tell some story through a hand gesture, create intrigue. Look at this picture, don't you wonder what he is looking at? What is on the other side of the window? What does the owner of that curious hand feel right now?

Capture moments that can tell a story.

TRANSMIT SENSATIONS

We have already commented that we can transmit feelings, but ... have you thought that you can also transmit sensations? The touch of a soft skin, something rough or spongy, the feeling of lightness or heaviness ...

Sensations

MANICURED HANDS

It is not the same as you want to tell the experience of some working hands of the field, with their hardnesses and the dirtiness of work, that you photograph the hand of a mother (or a father) stroking that of your baby, or hands that you They offer flowers or simply make you a gesture, or even if it is for a professional commission in which they ask you for beautiful hands, in these cases, try to ensure that the hands, and their nails, are taken care of, clean and hydrated, otherwise you They can spoil a beautiful picture. Finally, I give you some ideas for you to take as a game, they are small challenges that will help you practice with hand photography and thus learn that, of course, it is our main objective . In each of the challenges I give you an example so that you finish inspiring yourself and do not forget that, in any case, the portrayed hands must express and communicate something. 1. Photograph hands of different ages: you can make a series of male hands and another series of female hands, from a baby to an old man.

Photograph a series of hands from different generations. From a baby ...

... even those of a grandfather.

2. Creative hands: in this case I propose a series of hands creating, that is, drawing, painting, playing an instrument, sculpting, working the mud ...

Creative hands

3. Cook hands: in the middle of cooking, kneading, cutting ... any action that seems striking. Here you can play a lot with the light or with the colors.

Ruben Villagra, Cook Hands

4. Portraits with hands: we have already spoken that the hands in a portrait provide information and strength. Practice this trick with someone in your environment.

Portrait with hands

5. Hands in contact: of two lovers, of a mother and a son, two sibling children ... hands that show affection, confidence or that transmit any other feeling when in contact.

Hands in contact

6. Photograph hands that tell something about the personality or culture of the subject.

Hands that tell us where they come from.

7. Imagine and create your own challenges. Try to photograph the hands from different angles and in different positions to get the most striking pose and remember that normally the back is usually more attractive than the palms. Here are some varied examples: Hey! Before you run to photograph the hands that are put in front of you, I'm sure that is what you want right now, like or share, others will thank you . Thank you!