between the hand and the body. Instead, have the model place her hands
flat against her body in the natural pocket of her upper hips. The sides of
her hands should be facing the camera. (Note:In this pose, make sure to
instruct the subject that she should bend her elbows to create separation
between the arms and the body.)
Hands to Conceal.The hands and arms can also help you when a
model is lying down and her upper leg is bent down in front of her lower
leg. This pose is common, but it can appear unflattering if the upper thigh
looks thick. Often, placing a hand to follow the thigh will reduce this nat-
ural thickening of the area.When placing a model in a hot tub, as we
did with Tess here, the poses become
limited. If you want to capture water in
the image, the model can stand in the
hot tub for a three-quarter or bust-up
shot or lower herself closer to the water
for a headshot. In a normal crossed-arm
pose, I’d strive to keep the model’s
hands closer into her arms (near the el-
bows) or to create a more “karate chop”
look that minimizes the visual impact of
the hands. In this image, however, Tess
was able to cross her arms quite natu-
rally, with the back of the hands facing
the camera, because the water helped to
subdue their visual weight. The main
light for this image was a Hensel Integra
500 Pro Plus monolight with a medium
Chimera Super Pro Plus Soft Strip and a
Lighttools 40-degree grid placed on the
face of the box. Two Hensel Integra 500
Pro Plus monolights fitted with 7-inch re-
flectors were also placed to either side
of the camera to light the background.
The one to camera left was fitted with a
10-degree grid, while the one to camera
right was fitted with a 20-degree grid,
which allowed light to spill onto her hair.
While this photo was originally captured
in color, I chose the Antique Light set-
ting in Adobe Lightroom to add a more
classic feel to the final image. (Camera:
Canon 5D;Lens:Canon 85mm f/1.2L,
USM lens, effective focal length 85mm;
ISO:100;Shutter speed:^1 / 200 second;
Aperture:f/4;White balance:6000K)
THETORSO,ARMS,ANDHANDS57