Posing hands for boudoir photos is something many photographers struggle with. As a professional boudoir photographer, I’ll share my checklist for directing my clients hands for boudoir photos.
Key Takeaways
- To pose a woman’s arm at her thinnest, pinkies and thumbs should be closest to the camera.
- Photographing the woman’s palm or the back of her hand will capture her arm at its widest. If you do this, consider curving the wrist instead of bending it.
- Wrists should be bent, but not 90 degrees unless supporting her weight for the pose.
- Fingers should be splayed apart and slightly bent.
- The thumb and middle finger should often be close, but never touch.
- When directing, the woman always direct her to trace or touch herself lightly or softly.
- Avoid extending the thumb so it’s perpendicular to the hand.
Slimming Her Arms
Posing the hands so the thumbs or pinkies are closest to the camera captures a woman’s arm at its slimmest perspective. Therefore, this positioning is best for plus-size women as this angle will help slim her arms.
Thumbs forward are obviously best for poses where the woman’s hand will be at her waist her lower. Anything above this will likely look best if the pinky finger is closest to the camera.
Related: Boudoir Poses For Plus Size Women
How to Pose Hands With Palm or Back Showing
Posing the woman with the back of her hand or palm toward the camera captures her forearm from its widest perspective. This is why I generally only show the back of her hand or palm when photographing slender women. Making slender women look more shapely is often a better idea over trying to make them even thinner than they already are.
When showing the back of the hand or palm always make sure to keep curve the wrist to one side or the other to create an S-shape between her hand and forearm. This help to further embellish her curves.
Direct Her To Bend Her Wrist and Fingers
A straight wrist can make an otherwise beautiful pose look stiff and “posey.” When posing women who aren’t used to being photographed, it’s really common that you’ll direct their hips for example, and then their hands will subconsciously go straight and stiff as they try to comply with your other directions.
The general rule with boudoir poses is, if it bends bend it. That said although a bent wrist always looks better than a straight wrist for boudoir photos, you’ll want to be careful about bending it 90 degrees. This is generally too much of a bend unless the woman is resting significant weight on the joint.
Master The Art of Posing Women
In this boudoir posing guide, I’ll show you how to pose the nude female form in a way that tastefully flatters her body type and creates emotion. This guide is intended for beginner and intermediate photographers and will teach you how to balance the proportions of any woman to make her look her best.
By first teaching you the fundamentals of posing, these principles will help you progress to a point where you can confidently pose any woman in an improvised fashion.
Splay & Bend Fingers For A Relaxed Look
One of the best things you can do to improve hands for boudoir photos is to always remind your client to slightly bend her fingers and wrists. Straight fingers or wrists will always look stiff when compared to bent appendages.
The part most people miss though, is to splay the fingers apart. You have to be careful when cuing this because you don’t want too much splay in the fingers, but you do generally want some. What happens is if the fingers are too close together the pose will show tension in the same way a clenched fist does.
When posing hands for boudoir photos, I often direct my client to imagine holding a delicate object, like a feather, to achieve just the right amount of splay for a natural, relaxed effect.
Classically Posing Hands for Boudoir Photos
If you’ve ever studied women posed in classical paintings, a common hand placement is to delicately grip or touch things using the thumb and middle finger.
For instance, you can have her adjust her thigh highs or stockings and direct her to use her thumb and middle finger. This will often put her hands naturally into classical positions as she focuses on the task rather than the pose of her hand.
This same hand placement works really well when close to the body or flee-floating in space. Generally, if she’s not gripping or adjusting though, I find that it looks best if the thumb and middle finger are close but don’t touch. Incorporating these timeless techniques when posing hands for boudoir photos will add elegance and authenticity.
Tips For Making Hands Look Authentic In Boudoir Photos
One easy way to pose hands is to give them something to do. Often, if you direct the woman to touch or trace an area of her body with soft or light touches, this will be enough to take any tension out of her hands.
Direct her to trace areas like her neck, collarbone, breasts, inner thigh, hips, face, etc., for sensual ways to direct her hands.
Another good way to think about posing the hands is by using the above tips with the intention of framing another body part like her chest, waist, face etc. By focusing on natural movements while posing hands for boudoir photos, you’ll create more dynamic and flattering images.
Related: Boudoir Posing Tips & Ideas
Make Sure Her Thumb Is Tucked
When posing hands one thing you’ll always want to ensure is that her thumb is tucked in. In most cases (as stated above) the thumb and middle finger should be used to grip or touch things, otherwise they should be close but generally not touching.
In extreme examples, some women will put all of the tension into their hands, and their thumb will go perpendicular to the rest of their fingers as they try to comply with other posing directions.
When in doubt, keep the thumb and fingers close but don’t have them touch, unless she’s gripping something, adjusting her clothes, playing with her hair, etc. Remember, mastering posing hands for boudoir photos often comes down to these small but impactful details.
