How can i fix foreshortening of fingers in a portrait hand gesture?

[Penelope61]

I’ve been working on a portrait where the subject’s hands are the focal point, but I can’t seem to get the foreshortening right on the fingers. They look flat and disjointed instead of naturally receding, which ruins the whole gesture. I’m struggling with how much detail to lose in the compressed areas to sell the illusion.

[Jonathan_J]

Been there I kept fighting the feeling the fingers read as flat when the hand turned away. I found softening the edges where the palm compresses helped a bit and kept a brighter line along the far side to suggest depth. It felt fragile like a sketch rather than a finished gesture.

[Paisley_M]

Is the angle the real issue here? I pulled a quick side view photo and it looked off so I paused and questioned the setup more than the render.

[Hannah93]

Another time I did a quick grayscale study to judge depth in the compressed zones I kept the near palm lighter and pushed the knuckles into shadow then compared it to a flat guide It helped me see where edges should fade.

[MarkHC]

Sometimes I just stop worrying about the hands and simplify the lighting setup I found that a strong key light did more for depth than a lot of micro detail in every finger.

[EvelynT]

I tried to push through and keep detail on all the fingers and it made it feel staged I think I preferred letting a single clear read of depth work instead of chasing perfect foreshortening.