Reading the hand

How to photograph your palm for a reading

Most readings that come back thin come back thin because of the photograph. This is the single highest-return five minutes you will spend on it.

15 July 2026 ·5 minute read ·Updated 30 August 2026

1. Light from the side

This matters more than everything else combined. Creases are depth, and depth is only visible when light rakes across a surface rather than hitting it flat. A window to your side is ideal. A flash fired straight at your palm is the worst possible option — it washes out exactly the shadows that make the lines readable.

2. Relax your hand

Do not stretch your fingers back or flatten your palm hard against anything. A stretched palm pulls the creases open and distorts both their curve and their apparent depth. Hold your hand as if you were about to receive something small, with a natural slight cup.

3. Fill the frame, straight on

Your palm should occupy most of the picture, from the wrist crease to the fingertips, with the camera square to it rather than at an angle. An angled photograph makes a straight head line look sloped, and slope is one of the things being read.

4. Steady, and in focus

Brace your camera hand or rest your phone on something. Tap to focus on the centre of the palm. Take four or five and choose the sharpest — the difference between a good and a mediocre photograph here is the difference between a fate line that can be read and one that has to be reported as not visible.

5. Clean, dry, and no filters

Wash and dry your hands first; skin oil scatters light. Do not apply any filter, do not increase contrast, and do not use a portrait mode that blurs the edges of the frame. Anything that processes the image is removing exactly the information being read.

Both hands, if you can. The non-dominant hand is read as what you arrived with, the dominant as what you have made of it, and the gap between them is where a full reading finds most of its material. Photograph each separately.

What happens to the photograph

It is used to produce your reading, embedded in your PDF report so you keep it, and then deleted from our records. We do not hold palm photographs after a reading is written. The full detail is in our privacy notice.

Common questions

What is the best lighting for a palm photograph?

Indirect daylight coming from the side. Side lighting rakes across the creases and makes their depth visible. A direct flash is the worst option because it flattens exactly the shadows that make lines readable.

Should I photograph one hand or both?

Both if you can, photographed separately. The non-dominant hand is traditionally read as inherited disposition and the dominant as what has been made of it; the difference between them is the most informative part of a full reading.

Do you keep my palm photograph?

No. The photograph is used to produce the reading and is embedded in your PDF report, then deleted from our records.