How to look good on Zoom calls

A new report reveals the techniques for looking great on video conferences. The techniques, used by influencers and celebrities, are largely unknown to most professionals working from home.

The report is by The Art of Being Photographed, a global online community dedicated to photography. Report summary: five simple steps to transform how you look on video calls:

1. Centre yourself Place yourself in the middle of your viewers’ screen with your shoulders taking up as much of the width of the screen as possible. This makes you look larger and more broad-shouldered, and conveys competence, confidence and assertiveness.

2. Consider your camera height Lowering your device gives you the emperor effect – appearing to loom over the camera – which creates an air of authority and gravitas. Raising your device gives you the baby face effect – a childlike appearance with a larger forehead and big eyes – which can make you look more friendly and personable. Choose the height that’s best for your appearance and the impression you’d like to make.

3. Choose your surroundings Use a blank backdrop, such as a neutral wall or a bed headboard, to ensure the camera lens focuses on you, your expressions, and your gestures. Find the best light – ideally facing a window or in front of a light therapy lamp that mimics the effect of daylight. Failing that, place a lamp in front of you.

4. Check your clothes Wear solid colours, and avoid distracting patterns, logos or slogans, to let the camera highlight you. If it’s really important, wear white, or include white in your surroundings, to avoid colour failure on your screen which may turn you inexplicably orange or blue!

5. Make eye contact Look at the dot of the camera – it might help to imagine a bullseye around the dot or stick a hole reinforcer on it – and not the other person’s image on your screen. This creates the human connection that only direct eye contact affords – and the ability to send and receive the social cues which are lost when there’s no direct eye contact.

Click here for the full report.