How to look good on video calls

How To Look Good On Video Calls: 6 Step Guide From Drab to Fab!

Reading Time: 6 minutes

With the second wave of COVID 19 hitting us all of us are working from home and zoom calls have become a part of our daily routine. 

We have put together a list of tips and tricks that will make you look professional on zoom calls and make your work from home life much easier. 

Although these steps are not limited to zoom meetings you can use these to look good on WhatsApp video calls, Facebook and Instagram live, even while playing online games with students or at any time you want to sit in front of the camera, record yourself or attend any kind of meetings.

1. Use The Best Lighting For Video Calls

Perfect lighting is very important for video calls
Image Source: SPY

Natural light is one of the best ways to have adequate lighting for your zoom calls. Make sure that you (and not your screen) are facing the sunlight. Because then your entire face would look like a giant black shadow (and you don’t want that!). 

If natural light is available at your home, keep in mind that you don’t sit directly in front of the window to avoid squinting your eyes. In case you don’t have access to natural light you can invest in a small selfie light or ring light. It is a good investment as you will be using it for a long time. It will provide adequate lighting to all your work meetings.

Quick Hack: If you don’t have the budget for a selfie light you can find a lamp and keep it directly behind your laptop or phone. This will bring all the light onto your face and will do the job of a selfie or ring light.

2. Use Correct Camera Angles

Adjust camera position for looking great on zoom call
Image Source: Red Apple Lipstick

Well, you are already beautiful but everyone can use some good camera angles! Never put your camera below your eye level because then you cannot maintain eye contact. It also highlights your double chin (unless don’t have any- thanks to your rigorous home-workout regimen!). 

Make sure that the camera position is either on your eye level or above it. Invest in a good laptop stand. If you spend a lot of time on your laptops, it will help you with your posture and avoid neck and back pain.  

Quick Hack: If you don’t have the budget you can use a couple of books to make a book stack and support your phone or laptop above your eye level.

3. Make Sure You Fit Well in the Frame

It’s very important to pay attention to the position of yourself as well as your camera. Don’t sit too far away from the camera because the new surroundings will take over your frame. Neither sit too close, otherwise, people will be able to see your skin pores and facial hair. 

The ideal distance would be 1 meter away from the camera. Make sure you are not at a level where your face is. Just be visible from the chin up so that your face isn’t cut off from the video call.

4. Check Your Background Smartly

Pay attention to your background
Image Source: Madison Recruitment

Background plays a very important role when it comes to zoom calls. It sets the tone for the video call. Use a plain wall and avoid very crowded background with people walking by the background of your video.

It is very distracting to see people passing by in the background during the meeting for you as well as your family members and dilutes the motive of the meeting. If your family members are passing by in the background it will look unprofessional.  

Ideally, your background should be clean, de-cluttered, and should look minimal. It’s normal if you don’t have such spaces at your home as the entire family is at home. 

If you want to look good on Microsoft Teams then you can use the feature ‘Blur my background’. This helps when people are moving around in your background or you are sitting in a very uncluttered space. For zoom calls, you can download very neutral images from Pinterest and keep them as your background. 

Avoid using any fun or bright images as your background during professional calls. You can use them during zoom calls with your friends, family or chatting with your long-distance partner over video call!

5. Focus On Personal Appearance

It's important to maintain a professional appearance
Image Source: Tech-Republic

Let’s accept the fact that work from home is not easy, especially when you work for someone else. Focus on personal appearance. Make it as close to something that you would wear on an actual workday for a professional environment. You can wear your pajamas at the bottom but wear a nice shirt or a top for the camera!

Don’t attend early morning meetings with puffy eyes or late night calls looking completely tired. We understand that the situation is difficult and we all have our lows. But make sure you’re putting in your hundred percent to keep the work going! 

Try some homemade natural face scrubs a day before an important presentation for that extra glow!

Quick Hack: Simple things like washing your face or taking a quick walk around the room before the meeting would help!

6. Autotune Your Appearance

Well, zoom meetings happen during any time of the day and it’s possible that you aren’t in a situation to wear makeup and it’s totally fine.

Here are a couple of things that you can do if you want to look good even without makeup:

  • Go to settings
  • Turn on ‘Auto-Tune my appearance’ 

This will put a mild filter on your face however this looks very tacky in low light situations so make sure the lights are perfect.

Some Important Reminders

Now you’re all ready but don’t forget to keep these things in mind.

  • Check Audio

It’s a very basic understanding that you don’t have to unmute yourself until you are speaking. It just adds unnecessary noise to the meeting and disturbs everyone who is attending it.

Even if there is no noise in your background mute yourself because you don’t want the camera to be shifting to your face when someone else is speaking.

If the internal mic of your phone or laptop is not working properly you can invest in a good external mic to improve the audio quality of your zoom meetings.

  • Check Internet Speed

That sounds like a no-brainer! 

This is one of the most common problems that people face during their zoom calls. If your internet speed is slow the entire meeting will be disturbed. 

You have to invest in fast-speed Wi-Fi. Make sure it is working properly the day before in case of important work meetings and conferences.

  • Turn Off Your Video

Hear us out! If you have to move around or do something else make sure your video is turned off. It distracts everyone when someone is speaking their point and you suddenly start talking to one of your family members. Even if your audio is muted. 

These tips will continue to help you even after the pandemic to look more confident and professional in your meetings and conferences. 

Our Motto is to bring the best information to help you with all your problems. Do let us know if you have any other awesome hacks in the comments!! 

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