{"id":18268,"date":"2020-03-21T15:25:15","date_gmt":"2020-03-21T14:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/?p=18268"},"modified":"2022-01-25T09:39:54","modified_gmt":"2022-01-25T08:39:54","slug":"a-quick-guide-to-getting-the-most-out-of-your-webcam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/2020\/03\/a-quick-guide-to-getting-the-most-out-of-your-webcam.html","title":{"rendered":"A Quick Guide To Getting The Most Out Of Your Webcam"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve seen lots of you on your webcams recently. So I know you need this! \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n

I previously wrote a post about how to get a\u00a0really professional look when using video conferencing<\/a>, but here are some quick steps to get a better image out of even the most basic webcam built into your computer, without any extra equipment, in just a few minutes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

A typical webcam view. Don’t do this!<\/em><\/p>\n

1. Face the window<\/h3>\n

A bright light behind you means you become a silhouette. Face the window for softer, more even lighting on your face.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

Face the window to get better lighting<\/em><\/p>\n

In general, more light means less noise in the image, and the webcam will adjust the brightness so that everything averages out to a middle grey\u2014so getting closer to the window can make a big difference (but it may also make the lighting harsher). Experiment!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

Moving closer to the window means more light on you relative to the background<\/em><\/p>\n

If you can’t face the window, or the call is at night, use a bright light in front of you — the bigger and more diffuse the better (this is a small, bright light — harsh shadows)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And if you have glasses, reflections can be a big problem. Try putting a light above you and a light below you, and turn down your monitor:<\/p>\n

\nhttps:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/timo-with-glasses.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

In this case, the small Godox light<\/a> has a standard camera attachment, and I put it on a cheap selfie-stick tripod (there are hundreds to choose from)<\/p>\n

2. Webcam at eye level<\/h3>\n

We don’t want to look up your nose! Put your computer on top of a pile of books so that the webcam is horizontal at your eye level, at least for the length of the call.<\/p>\n

Alternatively, if you have an iPhone, you can use an app called EpocCam to turn it into a webcam\u2014I’ve found the quality is excellent. You can then easily position this above your screen with a small selfie pole or tripod.<\/p>\n

3. Leave just a little space above your head<\/h3>\n

Aim to leave just a little space above your head, so your eyes are at roughly two-thirds of the way up the screen. And don’t get too close — most webcams are very wide-angled and unflattering.<\/p>\n

4. Think about the background<\/h3>\n

Try to keep the background in the background. Avoid clutter. In general, less is more.<\/p>\n

5. Look at the “audience”<\/h3>\n

Look directly at the camera when you’re speaking, not at the screen.<\/p>\n

6. Use your headphone\/microphones<\/h3>\n

The ones that you got with your phone work great to keep out background noise and avoid audio lag (“after you, no, after you!”)<\/p>\n

7. Wear clothes!<\/h3>\n

A suit may be overkill. But make an effort!<\/p>\n

Did I miss anything? Have great calls, people!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve seen lots of you on your webcams recently. So I know you need this! \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[723,1434,1433],"class_list":["post-18268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-best-practice","tag-marketing","tag-presenting","tag-webcam"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/webcam-basics-5-with-ight.jpg?fit=1080%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3X9RF-4KE","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18268"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20830,"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18268\/revisions\/20830"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}