How to look good [and not like a literal ghoul] in your video conference or webinar
I recently gave a presentation about creating content in the age of self-containment. Many are about to live that video conference life at home for the first time and it’s going to take some getting used to. Some things are obvious—wear professional clothing from the waist up, for example. Lock the door so nobody with less clothes on walks in. Don’t wear clashing patterns.
Other things aren’t so obvious. Let’s dive in.
Always wear clothes on the parts of your body that will appear on camera.
Of course, we are all very, very, very, very, very good looking people, but sometimes we get ourselves into situations where our camera setup might suggest otherwise. What follows are some tips for not inadvertently looking like a ghoul in your video conference calls or webinar. Bonus: these even work when we’re not in the midst of a global pandemic.
Laptop Placement
If you are conferencing from a laptop, and the laptop is on a table (or worse—your actual lap) lower than your eye-line, elevate it so you are making eye contact with the screen. Otherwise, the camera is looking up at you and in my case, this would reveal more than one chin or other upsetting physical realities about my human form and I would not be stoked about that. I usually put a milk crate or a pile of Stephen King books [they’re so thick and stable!] under my laptop to ensure it is level with my face.
Poor camera angles sometimes tell unflattering lies about how very, very, very, very, very good looking we actually are.
Lighting
Down-lighting (ceiling lights) alone can be a bummer in the “making you look like a ghoul” department. Table lamps are your friend, particularly if you are able to have one on both sides of your computer so that they light you evenly. Or if you’re getting enough light in your room from windows or whatever, go ahead and cut those overhead lights.
We’re already going to look a little wild from all the inside time so there’s no reason to compound it with poor lighting.
If you have a window, sit facing that window (with the back of your computer facing it) so that the light will evenly bathe your beautiful face. Don’t put it behind you because then you’ll look like a shadow, and this is literally how they film monsters in horror movies before we get a full view of how truly terrifying they are.
If none of this will work for you, you can put your screen to work. Open a browser and go to Google dot Com, which is an internet site for searching and storing all your data to feed to our AI overlords. Turn up your brightness. Now that beautiful, bright white screen is going to act like a studio light and make your eyes look like shiny marbles and scare away the unflattering shadows.
“Is Tony on the line? Do we have Tony on the call? Tony, are you on mute? I think we’ve lost Tony.”
Remember, we are all very, very, very, very, very good looking people but the shadows want to make us look like that guy Hannibal fed to the hogs. Not cool, shadows. Not cool.
If you want to go all out on your lighting setup, this video is a wonderful tutorial.
Shine
I am VERY shiny because I believe in cooking everything with butter and oil. I could avoid this on these calls by cutting out butter and oil but I am not nuts so I find blotting paper is my best friend so people don’t think, “Hey, did that guy just do cardio?”
Me before a hearty blotting.
I am not sure why this whole thing is horror themed, but I don’t make the rules; I just follow them.