Struggling with Awkward Hand Poses? This Free eBook Is All You Need!
Don’t you love how a simple portrait can give the viewer an insight into the mind of the model? We know how the right skill, technique and perfect model pose can make ordinary portraiture a piece of art. To hone these hand poses skills takes a lifetime, especially when you know that the models you work with might not always be trained.
So, it’s not just the photographer’s job you need to know but also the model’s job you need to have a hang of! Have you ever given directing women a thought? Directing your models to pose right, doesn’t just involve asking them to strike a smile or stand at an angle. They need to be minutely told how every limb and muscle is placed and the expressions and look on their face too play a key role.
But more than anything comfortably working with hand poses is where the real work comes in! Hand posing can be the biggest asset or the largest liability, to find your way around them is where the efforts come into play!
Some Tricks To Enhance Your Model's Hand Poses
1. The Simple Cross Hands Pose
The eloquent and simple posture that a simple cross of hands can help you create is one that is incomparable!
Nothing can go wrong when you are composed and effortless in the still.
A simple cross of hands however shows reservation, introversion, & an overall pensive mood. So choose your hand poses wisely & make sure that you aren’t misunderstood.
2. Hand Poses Using Props
A prop can be used to get the eyes of the model & focus on the product adorned by the subject or it can be just a mere accessory used to accentuate the features & the expressions of the model. Depending on the purpose of the prop, the choice of the prop is essential.
A prop should ideally acquire not more than 1/12th of the space of your frame and should not pop out. After all, you are here for a portrait shoot & not a product shoot!
Don’t steal your model’s thunder with an overpowering prop!
3. Angles & Perspectives
With changing times & changing meanings of photography, there are several different genres of photography cropping up.
If you don’t want to stick to the same boring angles & portraits that the world creates, try to explore perspectives & angles
While doing so, don’t overlook the fact that the hands shouldn’t look bulky, clumsy, or out of place!
4. Classic Hands On Knee Pose
A power pose is when hands are placed on the knee.
When you need to capture the essence of a formal, professional holding a powerful position in an organization.
These types of hand poses are what create a mark on the viewer.
These assertive poses with hands are what will help build their profile.
5. A Formal Pose Depicting Power
With changing times & changing meaning of poses, one thing that has hardly changed is striking formal best hand poses for pictures.
A classic folded hands won’t ever go wrong.
The fold of hands makes the portrait looks strong powerful & professional. With a crisp expression & a spotless and creaseless apparel, this is the recipe for a perfectly empowered portrait.
Having said that folded hand poses might not always mean formal posing.
A relaxed fold of hands can depict reluctance, disinterest, and casualness among many other things.
So the perfect hand poses can make or break your portraits & the message the portrait wants to convey can be totally messed up!
So, beware of your purpose & direct the models accordingly for the best hand poses for photos.
6. Hand On Face Pose
The hand on face pose is a common way of expressing different emotions or thoughts through body language.
Depending on the context and the position of the hand, this pose can convey boredom, surprise, curiosity, frustration, sadness, or contemplation.
For example, if someone rests their chin on their palm, they might be bored or tired. If someone covers their mouth with their hand, they might be surprised or shocked.
If someone touches their cheek with their fingers, they might be curious or interested.
7. Relaxed Hand Poses
Relaxed hand poses are a way of showing calmness and comfort in a photo. They are simple, but effective, hand positions that can make a portrait look more natural and friendly.
Relaxed best hand poses for photos can be done by keeping the fingers slightly curved and the palms facing the body or the camera.
They can also be done by placing the hands in pockets, on hips, or on other parts of the body.
They are great for candid and lifestyle portraits, as they can help to create a sense of authenticity and connection in the photo.
Create Stunning Portraits With This Female Hand Poses Guide...
Thing's You'll Learn With This Free Model Posing Guide?
• 9 Different hand poses & how to direct your model’s hands
• 9 Pro-tips of non-verbal communication
• 6 Strategies for effective communication with the client
Use-Cases for the Free Hand Poses Guide
• Portrait Photographers: Capture expressive, elegant hand gestures that elevate your headshots and lifestyle portraits.
• Wedding Photographers: Say goodbye to awkward hand placements in couple and bridal shots. Perfect for capturing romantic and refined moments.
• Fashion & Editorial Shoots: Direct confident, model-like poses with hand placements that add flair and sophistication.
• Content Creators & Influencers: Level up your self-portraits and reels with hands that look natural, graceful, and professional on camera.
• Family & Group Shoots: Bring harmony to group photos. Avoid cluttered hands and create cohesive, balanced compositions.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is included in this free hand posing guide?
The guide includes a curated selection of hand pose ideas for different photography styles - including portraits, weddings, fashion, and group shoots. It's a visual reference to help you direct hands more naturally in your sessions.
Who can benefit from this guide?
This guide is perfect for photographers of all levels, beginners, professionals, content creators, or anyone looking to improve hand posing in their photos.
How do I use the guide during a shoot?
You can print it out or keep it on your phone or tablet. Use it as a quick reference during sessions to direct your subjects with ease and confidence.
Do I need special software to open it?
Nope! The guide is provided as a standard PDF file, which can be opened on any device: computer, phone, or tablet.
Aaron Sivertson –
Good breakdown of what can be a tricky skill to learn!
Michael Murphy –
A great product at a very reasonable price giving excellent advice on something that can be exceedingly difficult to get right with portraits.
Pro2r –
Makes me more confident on my shoots!
Shane –
Thank you the guide will help me
Michael Murphy –
Great little guide on what is an exceedingly difficult part of portrait photography. Thank you.
Aaron Sivertson –
A simple and effective guide to a not-so-simple part of posing.
James –
Hands are hard to do and I love how this shows to do this. Hands are so important.
Shane Wiseman –
Pose guide helps me a’lot , Thanks
Linda Macpherson –
Very useful! It can be easy to run out of ideas of how best to pose the hands for a particular shot and this guide is helpful.
[email protected] –
Nice and easy to follow! Thank you!
[email protected] –
This guide has helped me to improve my photography of women. Thanks a lot!
charlene –
This guide has helped me to improve my photography of women. Thanks a lot!
James –
Basic adjustments while show you how not to do it. Nice little packet.
Bengt Korswing –
This amazing. I had a stroke some time ago but still have not recovered and seem to have lost some memory. This guide will help me alot as I try to get back to photography. Thank you
Chris –
So often overlooked and frequently a weakness for many photographers. This guide highlights the problems and helps solve them—many thanks for a very helpful piece of work.
Rodney –
Posing hands has been one of my weaknesses. This guide has been very helpful by making me more confident about it, resulting in better portraits. Thank you!
[email protected] –
you never know you need something until you need it. I didnt realise how important the female hand posing could be until I actually had to pose hands somewhere. This could use some improvements but overall pretty good.
erosfoto –
This guide has helped me to improve my photography of women. Thanks a lot!
Bob –
This is a great resource to help with all those “What do I do with my hands?” questions.
ease photography –
Easy to use with new models!
DamBo –
Great tips !! Thanks
Jay A. –
A great springboard that can be built on to assist in posing female clients. The tips of what to and not to do are very helpful.
James –
Was very helpful. Thanks
Mark –
Thank you for this free guide. It is actually a product that I would be willing to pay for. Even though I am not a professional photographer, I love taking pictures of my beautiful wife. One of the problems that I have always had was knowing what to do with her hands. This guide has helped me immensely! Thank you once again!
Neal A. Johnson –
I love the way the poses are laid out and explained. It’s improved my attention to detail tremendously.
Rex –
Very good product. An overlooked subject, but it does matter. This helps greatly.
Shane Wiseman –
Useful hand poses , helped me thank’s
kcgene –
Nice Guide. Instantly useful and upped my game. Thank you!
Nymphie –
Very useful guide!
Philip Loong –
Great and helpful information, thanks!
Bill Criss –
If you’re new to the Portrait side of the business then a lot of useful information, if you’re not then you probably, already know a lot of this.
Great of the New Bees.
May not be bad, to keep a copy handy, just as a reference, or Idea generator.
Can’t beat the price.
allenparker –
This guide is great. It has some very useful information on proper ways to pose your client’s hands. Very helpful.
Shane –
Great guide to help you on the way for women
JaKaTou –
Great tips, but nothing too new.
Michael Murphy –
Free Hand Poses Guide For Women is a great help in understanding the simple intricacies of hand posing and how it can effect the overall outcome of your shot.
ALAN WHEETMAN –
I keep coming back to this guide time and time again and always find inspiration in how best to place a models hand.
Vess –
Super useful for both photographers and artists. Thank you!
Craig Schultz –
This book is awesome!
chriswoodman_photography –
hands are the awkward thing, this is a great guide to what to do with them
Vincent –
This is a good book and love it
nimrod pascal –
great product. It helps you get great results.
Panagiotis –
Awesome product
George Costigan –
The guide made me think of things I had not considered before. My pictures now look more natural and polished.
Strongly encourage people to pick this up!
[email protected] –
Well presented information. The layout makes it easy to follow and remember the content. Great Job
Odette –
Awesome product
ease photography –
Great to use with new models. They can sometimes be unsure of where to place their hands!
Ian, Ease Photography
[email protected] –
very nice product
[email protected] –
Bardzo dobre, przydatne w edycji 🙂
Shane Wiseman –
Great guide and easy to understand, Thanks
kcgene –
Excellent! I absolutely love this. The small details and things to think about that is provided in a simple and straightforward way definitely help make my pictures better. Thank you PhotoWhoa! Fan for Life!
kcgene –
So Simple! These are easy things I never thought of to make my pictures better. Just taking a few moments to work on the details makes such a big difference. I can’t believe all the great stuff that comes with this membership with Photowhoa. Fan for Life!
Allysa Carberry –
useful resource
Carrie Conte –
Wonderful tips and suggestions for posing women’s hands. Also, the author provides encouraging words, conversation starters and other tips included. This guide provides a good sample, but if you want more. The author has created an app called Pocket Poser for smartphones and tablets. Perfect little guide!
[email protected] –
I will be using these tips.
carlobianchi83 –
Non sempre è facile trovare delle pose naturali per ritrarre le donne
Michael –
An excellent little guide full of helpful tips on models hand placement. A great addition to my camera bag.
S. Williams –
Good guide for beginners and a refresher for experienced photogs. Bad hand posing can wreck your perfect shot so it’s good to make sure that you have positioned them to make your subject comfortable, relaxed, natural.
Philip Loong –
Great and useful guide, thanks
riccardo rossi –
thanks offer very interesting new ideas
ease photography –
Awesome tool for new and inexperienced models. I loaded it on my Ipad and the models can scroll through while I change my gear
Pj Cook –
14 pages with TONS of tips to help you pose a lady for a superb photo session. Lots you may never considered. I learned a lot!
Chris –
This is a nice resource to have not only to learn from but to have to show models and communicate and have examples to show. Great job.
Edith Romero –
The best guide ever!! Ty sooo much
drpolyp –
Great intro & guide to dealing with hands!
Margaret –
This free guide has given me a lot of suggestions for hand placement. My portrait photography has been helped by this and especially so as I can show my subject an image of how I would like the hands placed. It has also allowed my model to suggest alternatives. Hence it has been helpful for us both. Thanks for the freebie.
joao carlos –
Thanks.
Jeffreygovender –
I offer portrait and lifestyle photoshoots as my mainstream business. It’s a misnomer that if your subject is outstandingly beautiful, your shots is bound to look outstanding. I say misnomer, because facial expressions are one aspect of the portrait, but what the hands/fingers are doing, can either make or break the shot. This guide helps to give the shot a professionally and elegant look to the shot, with just posing the hands properly. If you ever need a quick guide to better your portraits or free lifestyle shoots, Free Hand Poses Guide for women is definitely a must. It is easy and you will wonder “it’s so natural, why didn’t I think of that” …… Jeffrey Govender
Christian –
Just downloaded it and looking forward to checking it, it looks very straightforward, which I what I am looking for as a beginner.
fotogcw –
Nice to have as a guide but I would eliminate any poses that just show the back side of the hand, it makes them look manly
AndyC –
Great info. Thank you
Carrie –
Super straight forward and easy to keep as a quick refresher when your on the go or to print out to keep as a in house referencing guide!!
Victor Billups –
I’m a proud repeat customer of photowhoa.
[email protected] –
Useful posing guide for the great price of free
Trancerave –
FIREEEE thank you so much for it.
naman –
Amazing. Thank you
ALAN WHEETMAN –
This is an easy reference guide more suited to a photographer just starting out at posing models. A seasoned photographer will find themselves more disagreeing with the author than wanting to follow the poses suggested. Hand placement on a female model needs to be subtle, purposeful, and natural if the pose is to be convincing and pleasing to the eye.
tonynoto –
I’ve always found the Photowhoa products educational, helpful, and instantly usable.
Rohan –
Great product I was able to put it to use right away. Thank you for always providing great products.
[email protected] –
Thanks! very nice!
Robert Skears –
This guide addresses the often forgotten art of posing hands. This great guide has photos to illustrate the posing, suggestions on using certain poses, plus Pro Tips and even when it might not work so well with some models. What more could you ask for… and even better, it’s free.
[email protected] –
I always had trouble with posing hands especially for women. this helped my photography a great deal.
[email protected] –
good
pradeep424 –
It was an awesome addition to my photography toolbox
grantmezza –
Thankyou this has helped heaps
Parveen –
Thanks for the ultimate guide for how to compose hands in a shoot… Its really an amazing guide and very helpful during shoot a professional model or any beautiful lady indoor or outdoor. Thanks a lot…
Frank –
Just what the doctor ordered! These were a great addition to my tolset!. Thank you.
[email protected] –
Love photowhoa! ❤️
Charles Kok –
Find it useful and practical.
CreationsbyChrissey –
Great information and “how to” guide. Very helpful, especially with the senior high school girls!
PJ Cook –
Great guide and very helpful on a subject that there is little info on the web for. Awesome!!!
KIMBERLY –
Great guide for beginners as well as professionals. Hands can be tricky. This is a great cheat sheet to put on your phone or iPad during a shoot.
Kawsar –
As a newbie to portrait photography this has been incredibly helpful. I thought I would never get better at poses . Thank you
[email protected] –
So on the guide it had easy to understand lessons that really helped me out. I always struggled with what to do with them that left it awkward or looking to big.
[email protected] –
I was so glad to have gotten this for myself. I always had a hard time with what to with my models hands and this helped me know what to do with them instead of struggling lol. I love these quick guides on here.
[email protected] –
This was a life saver! I always had a hard time with what to with my models hands and this helped me know how and know how to be always prepared ** by [email protected] is me lol. forgot to sign in.
[email protected] –
This was a life saver! I always struggle with what to with my models hands and this made sure I am now always prepared ** by [email protected] is me lol. forgot to sign in.
Michael Murphy –
A fantastic little guide with lots of useful ideas on posing a piece of the anatomy I find a little challenging.
Barry –
Great little PDF with useful reference of ideas of posing hands. Thank you
Alcinia –
Very clear and useful
Deepak –
Interesting .. will be sure to use some of the poses.
null –
The Hand Posing Guide is a must have if you’re having problems posing women’s hands! I have used this guide on family members and friends!
I love it. Very helpful guide,indeed!
[email protected] –
This was a life saver! I always struggle with what to with my models hands and this made sure I am now always prepared
sangvik –
The posing tips are very useful and helped me a lot. Worth checking when you feel you don’t know what to do with the model!
sangvik –
The posing of hands in the sample pictures are very useful and helped me with my photoshoots. Worth checking when you feel you don’t know what to do with the model!
[email protected] –
Great Addition
[email protected] –
Great guide with actual photo samples of the poses. Wonderful posing reference.
sdfad –
Thanks is awesome!!!
lyle –
Excellent presentation.
William –
An excellent guide and a must-have for anyone doing posed portraits of women. Full of great tips.
cameoportraits –
Awsome Guide. It has helped me greatly. Sometimes I seem to go stale for had posing , but with this guide I can always have the right placement. Also I have let my client or model look at the illustration when she was having hard time understanding what I wanted. Thanks for you guide.
Jan –
Reading this hand posing guide gave triggered me to pay attention to an area that I begore had neglected. Yes, I paid attention to the hands of the model, but that was more with respect to where to put them. Not the how. This guide gives a more structured way how to handle this part of the posing challenge.
Mark –
I love taking pictures of my beautiful wife but never know what to do with her hands. Now I know!
John_Deumers –
Very helpfull and HANDY pdf.
Printed on large paper as a storyboard I can show where to put their hands and relax.
mk_ –
Great stuff, thanks
Blair –
Thanks for the offer of these free hand poses…… looking forward to using them and improving my photography.
Sretep –
A really interesting and informative read.
Keri s –
I think this book was full of helpful tips and I really enjoyed reading it
Billy Chan –
The posing of hands in the sample pictures are very useful and helped me with my photoshoots.
Well written e-book and good information.
Well worth getting.
Ulrike –
Very helpful, I learned a lot.
Tom Kok –
About “Free Hand Poses Guide For Women” …
I have read and viewed the PDF, nice tips for portrait and people photography regarding the posture of especially the hands, good advice regarding the position of the fingers, which can indeed look strange in some photos! Educational article!
Nadene –
Really sooo very helpful! Thank you for offering these resources!
E, Mac MacKay –
Great help and very useful both to me and showing new models about what to do with there hands and accessories.
Kerrtigan Evans –
Now I know how to tell them what to do with their hands
Pat –
What great info! Thanks so much!!
Duong –
I really enjoy reading this book.
Ismail –
awesome guide
Marcel Dzaja –
I like those cards. Especially the explaination for each Pose and some other possibilities for them.
Wayne –
How handy and helpful this is, never again will I have uninteresting postures when taking photos, this guide is certainly a must have in your camera bag toolkit.
[email protected] –
It’s a “MUST HAVE” book to have in your toolkit because the posture of hands is an overlooked important aspect of photography and this is great in helping achieve a more professional level of photography. I accidentally pushed the wrong link and downloaded it again. Please don’t charge me for it…
Marshall Blansfield –
Can’t wait to try it on my girls and clients.
Marshall Blansfield –
Can’t wait to test poses out on clients!
Melanie C Goins –
It’s sometimes an issue on what to do with the hands when you’re taking a portrait. They sometimes look awkward or misplaced. The free guide gives you some nice options that you can put to use to improve your shots. It’s informative, shows examples, and sold by PhotoWhoa, so you know it’s good!
Bob –
I always have high school senior girls asking “what do I do with my hands”. This book helps!
Parth –
This Guide is so awesome and anyone who poses like that can look really cool, I really like the creativity of how you came up with such beautiful poses.
JEFFERY –
It is a real handy guide short and to the point.
Nadene Smit –
I have always struggled with this part of posing. But thanks to this guide I now feel super confident and can pose my clients with ease.
BILLY –
really usefull guide, well worth the time to read.
dervish images –
really usefull guide, well worth the time to read
[email protected] –
I find it very useful. It’s easy to miss the hands when concentrating on posing a model especially if you are not an expert.
[email protected] –
This is about more than posing hands, it’s a really nice little starter to posing female models. It’s not fashion magazine stuff but it is the sort of thing that will get you taking better pictures of family, friends and models who are starting out. The hards bit is REALLY useful however. It just covered those basic rules that you need to know so you don’t get ugly hand shapes spoiling otherwise excellent images.
Nasroullah Dinally –
helpful information about where to put the hands in a pose.
Johnson Leung –
Please add menu so that direct access to different poses is possible. Right now I have to slide through all “standing” poses before I can reach “sitting poses”.
Also the text comes out too easily. Need a setting to suppress the appearance of the text for each image. Thanks
Frank Bruch –
it is all very good!!!
Jean-Louis –
Full of useful information. Well worth getting. To be honest I have never really given it a lot of thought until I read it, but it is something I’ve missed.
Great stuff
jack zucker –
not really a tutorial on hands posing. More of a general (mediocre) posing guide. More focus on arms than hands.
Peter –
By making ME more aware, I can better help my SUBJECTS relax — and give us BOTH the better images that we both want.
Amruta –
Hey Peter, take your time and explore all available options. Let me know how do you like it.
Bruce Walker –
A fairly complete list of basic poses, and explanations of why they work. The author also adds many tips about general things to do or avoid doing, and why. Hands can make or break a shot, so are important. Giving your subject something to do with their hands can relax them and make the difference between okay and great shots.
Al Gillar –
Some good information provided.
Hal –
Very nice – thanks!
Mike –
I was expecting an Ebook so I can read it offline. Instead this is a online course that requires me to have Internet access to view course.
lydia –
great information, thanks!
Claudia –
Thank you!
louis –
useful lnformation thank you
BigBear –
Not realy a revelation, I was familiair with most tips ‘n tricks, but the “deja vu” experience was a good thing to realize the way we work.
Lennard –
Liked them
Lester Strawbridge –
Great advice, I have never really given it a lot of thought until I read it.
I thought wow this is something that I’ve missed.
Great stuff
Colin Hart –
Great read
Mike Ling –
Thank you very much.
Jonno –
Full of useful information. Well worth getting.
Martha –
Thank you. Well written e-book and good information.
Pom –
Very useful, Thanks!
Martha –
Thank you. Useful information and well presented.
Wade –
Great information to have “handy” when shooting women.
Ramnath –
Useful one. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
D –
I took a quick look at this tutorial and deleted it. The posing of hands in the sample pictures are stiff, unnatural, worst of all that the back of the hands are facing the camera. Take a closer look at the hands from the original image and discover for yourself.
D –
I very appreciate your great effort to offer products at reasonable and affordable price. I wish you could offer higher quality products than just the average.
CARLOS RUIZ –
to the point and very useful, ill try it right away, i love ur products overall, thanks!!!
Amruta –
Wow.. thanks for your kind words Carlos
Sushma –
nice product
Andrzej –
I can’t download the guide. I get “Invalid download link. Go to homepage” message.
Amruta –
Sorry for this inconvenience. Just sent you download link. Check your inbox and let you know your thoughts on this freebie 🙂