Blogger Hand Positions


Most of us base our swatches on another blogger that we love. We all know the iconic hand positions of Scrangie, Chalkboard Nails, Fashion Polish, and many others.  I want to preface this by saying that there is no right or wrong way to take nail polish swatches! Everyone has to find out what works for them and their nails. Finding a position that compliments your hands can really improve your blog photos.





This is how I usually photograph my nails. I line up the bottom edge of my nail on the bottom and hold my fingers together making an arch over my palm. I just like how the light highlights the nails and not my hands.











Here's a line to help illustrate how I line up the bottom edge of my nails.











If I instead line up the bottom of my fingers it looks a bit weird, less uniform. You see, my nails aren't perfectly uniform so I compensate by positioning my hand differently for swatches.










Now the question of what to do with that pesky thumb. It's painted all pretty so it seems a shame to hide it, but I always feel awkward with my thumb showing.











Aah, that's better. I always crop out my thumb or zoom in on just my fingers for photographs.











There are a lot of other ways to hold your hands too, some look prettier because they are more relaxed. This one is what I call the hand squish (in my head). I just cant pull it off. If I try to put my fingers on my palm for photographs they just look uncomfortable.








Here's another alternative hand position, here rather than arching your fingers you just let them fall naturally on your palm like they would when you are making a fist. This is also a pretty complimentary position in my opinion.










Then there's the floating hand. I can't master this one for the life of me, it's supposed to look relaxed but my hand cramps every time!










Here's one I see frequently with ladies with longer nails. They arch their fingers but keep them parallel and separate rather than squishing them together like I do. I feel like this one always makes it really obvious when nails are different shapes (and since mine are permanently different I avoid it!)









This is fondly referred to as the claw! I can't get my hand to look pretty like this no matter what I do, but it's the best way to show off nail art on your thumb.









Adding in a bottle complicates things, many girls hold the bottle like they normally would hold a small bottle filled with liquid that stains everything, tightly. Unfortunately with odd shaped bottles holding a bottle tightly just looks strange. I did this a lot when I started blogging because I just couldn't figure out any other way to hold it.







This is how I hold a bottle, I arch my fingers like normal then gently set the bottle in my hand. With odd shaped bottles I'm barely holding the bottle, in this photo it's lightly held between my middle finger and my palm, and my other fingers are barely touching the bottle. This gives the relaxed look and allows me to line up my nails how I prefer.




How do you hold your hand when you photograph your nails? Was there any particular blogger that inspired this photography style?

[polishes pictured - nails: piCture pOlish Focus; bottle: OPI Smitten With Mittens]

30 comments

  1. Hahaha, the claw! XD Sometimes the claw looks nice and sometimes it looks a little menacing, lol. I think it's all in the camera angle. I've done it a few times and my DH says it looks menacing every time and prefers your style. But I can't for the life of me get mine to turn out nicely that way! I feel like I have to pose with something, either a bottle or some other "prop" if I don't do the claw (which I usually reserve for duochromes). Fun post!

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    1. The claw is a funny one, I'm not usually a huge fan of it, but some girls can make it look cute! Maybe you are right about the camera angle. It's funny how different everyone is, I think I struggle more with the bottle than I do to just arch my fingers. When I first started blogging I assumed that the bottle was the easiest and struggled constantly. I'm glad you enjoyed this post!

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  2. I pose like the last shot, but more diagonal. I have to hold something or my hand just looks too awkward!

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    1. Diagonal always looks really nice. I usually avoid the angle because it bothers me if it isn't the same angle on every picture (and I can't seem to get it to look the same). I love how it looks to pose with the bottle but my hand actually cramps up if I try for too long, isn't it funny how everyone is so different? Thanks for reading and I'm glad you enjoyed this post!

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  3. Great post! I should really try the straight line look - it looks great and would help when the nails aren't all the same length...it makes them look like they are. I take tons and tons of pictures of different poses and pick the one that looks best to me and shows the polish off the best, so I guess I don't have a "signature pose" per say. I have often wondered if I should make my shots more consistent...

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    1. I'm glad you liked the post! The straight line look really helps my nails. For some reason my ring finger nails are quite different from the rest of my nails so unless I line my nails up like that every time mine look different! Your pictures always look so great, I don't think they are inconsistent at all, and I think your nails with the cuff of your sweaters are your signature pose. :)

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  4. I generally hold the bottle! I love the straight line look but my nails always look silly that way!

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    1. When I read blogs I love seeing pictures with the bottle, it always looks the most professional to me! I think the straight line is harder with longer or curved nails (which I've never had a problem with) so I understand how it wouldn't work for everyone. Thanks for stopping by!

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  5. I think most of mine are the claw haha! I'm new to blogging so I'm still finding my "position" I guess. Nice post!

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    1. Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it. When you're first starting out is a fun time to try to figure out your position, you can try all sorts of things just to find what looks nicest with your nails or just what's the most comfortable. I always hated how my nails looked in pictures until I figured out how to line mine up. :)

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  6. Love this post! It gives me more options to refer to when taking photos. Thank you!

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    1. No, thank you for reading my post, I'm glad you liked it! Hand positions are fun because they can completely change the look of your hands and different positions work better for different polishes. :)

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  8. I usually take pics with a bottle in my hand! I've tried taking pics without a bottle and I could never get my fingers to stay still. Great post! : )

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    1. I think I really squish my fingers together to get them to stay still like that, but then I struggle with the bottle. To each their own I suppose. Thank you for commenting and I'm glad you liked the post!

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    1. Thank you so much Christine! It was a fun one to write. :)

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  10. Very helpful post! I'm still working on my hand positions. I'm so awkward!

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    1. You know, for a while you will be struggling and feel awkward, then suddenly it will all come together and you'll have what works for you. That's how it happened with me! I'm glad you liked the post, thank you so much.

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  11. that is a pretty shade you are using

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    1. Isn't it just gorgeous? Sheila chose amazingly, Focus is a must-have in my opinion. :D

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  12. I don't know why but I really like this post. The breakdown of the hand positions. It's so true though that different people have different positions that compliment their nails. I struggled to find positions that worked for me when I first started my blog. I think I'm good now but occasionally will change things up to see if there's something even more complimentary. You know who has really good "floating hand", Pshiit. I don't know how she does it and makes it look soooo elegant!

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    1. I really like this post too, it was a lot of fun to write. I had the idea after looking at a picture one of my friends sent me and I just had to write it. We all have different styles for our pictures, and most newer bloggers are still finding their style. We're all inspired by some of the earliest nail bloggers, and the nail advertising we've seen. Changing it up is always fun, but I usually stick to my own style as well. Pshiiit does have the best floating hand! I really can't pull that one off for the life of me, probably because I have big man-hands and not pretty little feminine hands. :D Thanks for commenting!

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  13. Fun post! I always call the "Hand squish" the smashed E because it looks like sign language E got stepped on. Actually, sometimes the 'claw' looks like an E as well. I think it looks like they are trying to eat the thumb though.

    The Alternate hand position (after hand squish, lol) is totally an ASL A. My problem with the ASL A, is that sometimes the pinky disappears because its stumpy. hahaha At least it does on my hand! I guess I might be the only stumpy pinky out there.

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    1. I've never thought about the positions as ASL signs before, but that's so true! What a great observation. I wonder what we are subconsciously saying with out hand positions? :)

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  14. Nice post! The 7 and 8th photo I call the stair step pose (I my brain). I use all the same rules you do too. I think if the line is straight and uniform it looks nice. I like pictures with bottles, only because I prefer to see the bottles too, but I will remove the bottle if it is causing too much glare or my nails will blend in with the color of the bottle.

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    1. Thanks Jenni! They do look like stair steps, that's so true! I'm glad someone else nicknames hand poses in their brain. Straight lines really do make a difference in my opinion, it just looks neat and clean to me. Your pictures with the bottle always look great!

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  15. This is a really nice article on nails and I like these Nail arts, that nail polish you used there is looking very nice on you. Thanks for sharing these here. I will definitely visit here again for more information.

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