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I use that technique a lot on long, heavy lenses, especially if I have to hold it up for more than just a few seconds.
It's just simple leverage and load balance; ... with your right hand in a normal position holding the camera, the farther away from the camera (and your right hand) that your left, lens-holding hand is, the more equally the weight of the camera and lens is divided between your two hands and arms. The farthest distance away that you can get with your left hand is when you wrap your fingers around the bottom of the hood, making sure, of course, that they aren't then visible at the bottom of the frame. And yes, I do realize that is a truly terrible piece of grammar.
This method is especially helpful if you're shooting from a moving vehicle, or a chase-boat, since it's much more secure than simply resting the lens on your palm or fingers.
In addition to the more comfortable weight distribution between both hands and arms when using the lens hood as one of your two "stabilization points", the geometry of adding more distance between those two points provides a much more stable target acquisition in your viewfinder.
For example, if you're aiming a rifle at a target, and doing it badly, with one hand operating the trigger, and the other hand too close to the trigger hand, your front sight is going to be wiggling all over the place. But the farther you move the non-trigger hand forward, the more stable the sight becomes. Just don't shoot your hand off.
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