When photographing people, we tend to spend a lot of our time focused on the eyes. And while that’s a great way to compose portraits, there are a lot of powerful details and stories to be told by focusing on a person’s hands. This is today’s challenge: to photograph a hand.

Focus on Action

A great way to tell a story with someone’s hands is to capture them in movement. Whether that’s playing an instrument, catching a ball, digging in the sand, or playing with a toy, adding action to your photos of hands can give the image more interest, color, and texture.

Look for Texture

Our hands are utilitarian and show the wrinkles and scars of all the hard work they must perform. Those textures get even more pronounced as we age. Getting up close and personal with a hard-working or aged pair of hands and highlighting that texture can make for a truly interesting and dynamic shot.

Show a Relationship

There are more ways to highlight the relationship between two people than capturing a glance or a kiss. In fact, two hands intertwined can express every bit as much love and tenderness as eyes locked in a loving gaze.

Try Complimentary and Contrasting Compositions

An easy way to bring more depth to a hand portrait is to play on the interaction between hands and a prop. This can be done in a complimentary nature, such as a delicate set of hands holding a delicate bouquet of flowers. You can also opt for something with more contrast, like a dirty hand holding a clean hand. 

Practice and Participate!

These are just a few suggestions for how you can bring more interest to your hand photos. There is a lot of room for creativity here, and we want to see it! Take a picture of your own hand, your child’s hands, or even the hands of a stranger. Practice using action, looking for texture, showing a relationship, and creating interesting compositions and see what beautiful creations you can come up with. Then be sure to upload your images to the forum thread to share with other participants.