Are they reaching for there gun

[William G Hendry]

Why do a lot of men in uniforms have one of there hands in there jacket when they pose for pictures.

 

[AndyHall]

Traditional pose for portraits.

 

[UCVRelics]

It's one of those things from the early days of the Renaissances war when it was an Honorable Profession.

 

[Robert Gray]

It was a custom reflecting the Napoleonic influence on 19th century military dress.

 

[William G Hendry]

Traditional is good thanks guys

 

[Billy1977]

All I would add to the above is that in addition to the traditional style that seems to originate with Napoleon there is also the reason, at least in photos as old as the Civil War era, that the picture took sooooooooo long to develop that if you moved your hand around enough it would cause your hand to be a blur on the finished photograph. This is why in some family photos of that era you see all the adults clear because they're standing still for long enough but the kid or kids are blurry because they were moving around and didn't sit still for long enough. So to avoid the finished portrait photo that the soldier probably spent good money on from coming out with a blurry hand (and possibly because some people especially those who are most nervous don't know what to do with their hands sometimes) the soldier unbuttons two or more of his buttons and sticks his hand in it. Keeps the hand still long enough for the photo to turn out well.

 

[huskerblitz]

All I would add to the above is that in addition to the traditional style that seems to originate with Napoleon there is also the reason, at least in photos as old as the Civil War era, that the picture took sooooooooo long to develop that if you moved your hand around enough it would cause your hand to be a blur on the finished photograph. This is why in some family photos of that era you see all the adults clear because they're standing still for long enough but the kid or kids are blurry because they were moving around and didn't sit still for long enough. So to avoid the finished portrait photo that the soldier probably spent good money on from coming out with a blurry hand (and possibly because some people especially those who are most nervous don't know what to do with their hands sometimes) the soldier unbuttons two or more of his buttons and sticks his hand in it. Keeps the hand still long enough for the photo to turn out well.

I'm not sure that was a reason for the pose, though. They had rests to help keep arms and heads steady for photos. And even with free hands they can be seen without blur meaning they could stay still long enough. It's a nice idea, just not sure it's accurate for the time period.

 

[James B White]

I'm not sure that was a reason for the pose, though. They had rests to help keep arms and heads steady for photos. And even with free hands they can be seen without blur meaning they could stay still long enough. It's a nice idea, just not sure it's accurate for the time period.

Surely it wasn't a major influence in that nice color photo of Napoleon there.