Most people on video calls look a bit worse than they need to: light from the wrong side, a camera pointing up their nose, a room that tells too much. None of it is hard to fix. Here are ten changes, roughly in order of how much difference they make.
1. Choose what's behind you
The background is the biggest thing on screen besides your face, and it's the first thing people notice. A messy room says you didn't prepare. Blur hides the mess but looks like a filter.
Pick a background on purpose. If you have a tidy wall, use it. If you don't, use a virtual background that looks like a real room. Wallogo makes a photoreal office with your logo as a 3D sign on the wall in about 8 seconds; you get 5 free tries a day, and the one you keep is $4.99 (pricing).
Quick action: set it up with the guide for your app: Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, Webex or Slack.
2. Put the light in front of you
Light does more for how you look on camera than any webcam upgrade.
Good: a window in front of you, or a lamp behind your screen pointing at your face. A small ring light works too.
Avoid: a window behind you, which turns you into a silhouette; a single ceiling light, which puts shadows under your eyes; light from one side only.
Good front light also helps your video app cut you out cleanly from a virtual background.
3. Raise the camera to eye level
A laptop on a desk films you from below. It's unflattering, and it makes you look down at people.
The fix: put the laptop on a stand or a stack of books until the camera is level with your eyes. Sit about an arm's length away.
4. Dress for the call you're on
Wear what you would wear to meet the same people in person. It changes how you sit and speak, not just how you look.
On camera: plain colours work better than busy patterns or thin stripes, which can flicker. Very bright white and deep black are hard for webcams. Avoid clothes in the same colour as your background, or a virtual background may eat your shoulders.
5. Fix your sound before your picture
People forgive a grainy picture. They don't forgive echo, hiss or a voice that cuts in and out.
Minimum: wired earbuds with a microphone. They beat a laptop microphone, which picks up typing and room echo.
Better: a USB microphone or a good headset, close to your mouth.
Before important calls: make a short test recording in your app's audio settings and listen back.
6. Look at the lens when it matters
When you look at someone's face on screen, you look slightly away from them. Eye contact on video means looking at the camera.
Tip: drag the window with the other person's face to just under your camera. Look at the lens when you make a key point, and at the screen the rest of the time.
7. Cut the interruptions
- Close tabs and apps you don't need, especially email and chat.
- Turn on Focus or Do Not Disturb.
- Put your phone on silent, face down.
- Tell the people at home you're on a call.
- If you can't close the door, sit facing it so you see interruptions coming.
During the call, don't multitask. People can see your eyes move to another screen.
8. Keep the same setup every time
Same background, same camera angle, same light, same headset. When clients see the same room every week, it starts to feel like your office.
A virtual background helps here: kitchen on Monday, hotel on Thursday, the room behind you stays the same. If you change it for the season, a few Christmas touches in December, keep the rest the same.
9. Join two minutes early
Use the time to check camera, sound and background, look at your framing and read your notes. Then you start the call calm instead of catching up.
10. Frame yourself
Eyes on the top third: imagine the picture divided into three rows. Your eyes belong on the upper line.
Head and shoulders: show your head, shoulders and a little of your chest. Not just a face, not a small figure far away.
Centre yourself: if your background has a sign on the wall, sit so it stays visible beside you, not hidden behind your head.
Put it together
Each tip helps on its own. Together they make you look like someone with a proper office, even from a spare room: light in front, camera at eye level, clear sound, a background you chose.
Start with the background. It's the biggest change on screen and the quickest to make. Make one with your logo, then work through the rest of the list. Questions? See the FAQ.