3 Smart (and Easy!) Ways to Improve Your 'On Camera From Home' Presence
Our society is living through radical change. Every day we are called upon to adapt in some way. Most of us are doing our best just to get through this.
On TV, you may have noticed a particularly stark change in the appearance of guests, and even hosts appearing on your screen. As people move from professionally lit and technically staffed studios to at-home cobbled together arrangements, you may have noticed a drastic change in quality. Experts suddenly look bedraggled and things take on an almost surreal and often distracting quality.
And this is a dilemma some of our colleagues and clients face right now as they work to get their important work out into a world in crisis – on top of everything else, how do I look credible in this moment?
We’re here to offer sound suggestions in how to up your presentation game to reflect your authority and be recognized as the expert you are! Whether it’s online meetings for work, webinars and YouTube for colleagues, or important media appearances, here are 3 very simple ways you can adapt to this new radical change from the comfort of our own physically-distanced home.
Let’s look at some examples. Some good and some not so good:
Lighting! Lighting! Lighting!
Here are two Queens. Joy Ann Reid and Rep. Val Demmings
Why can I see Joy Reid perfectly well, but Rep. Val Demmings practically disappears into darkness in this split frame? It’s all about lighting.
Whatever the light touches will shine bright like a diamond. Whatever the light misses will disappear into a cavern of mystery. Your tiny computer camera only knows to focus on what’s lit. If the light is behind you (for example, if you are seated with a window behind you), you will disappear entirely into an amorphous silhouette. If the camera illuminates one side of your face, the other will disappear.
The man on the right doesn’t have a black eye. The camera’s auto-focus is reacting to the lack of lighting on one side of his face and the white background.
What to do? The light(s) should be in front of you, diffused, gently illuminating your face! Your facial expressions give us more information, more quickly, than your actual words. We literally can’t communicate well with you if we can’t see your face. Joy has professionals all around her to make her fabulous. The rest of us aren’t that lucky. So what to do?
It takes but a moment to move a couple of lamps, raise your computer to a nice eye-level height, and choose a chair that doesn’t distract from you. Test these things out ahead of time so you won’t have any surprises, or – let’s be real – disappointments. Rep. Val Demmings is a rising star, and we’d like to see her take that space and fill it up with her glorious self.
Choose Your Background Carefully
While she’s speaking, conveying vital medical information, we’re admiring the swan.
That has very clearly been done here. It’s a beautiful, serene background. But that is ALL we see. Our eyes are drawn to that beautifully lit wall! (If you look closely, you’ll notice the camera is actually focusing on the swan painting, and not our subject, because that is where the light is.) This medical professional would benefit from better lighting, from the front, and a little bit higher camera angle, and we’d be communicating with this expert, not spending all our time admiring the lovely painting of a swan. Your background should either be entirely neutral, or just interesting but not distinctive.
To the best of your ability, ensure that nothing behind you moves. If there are others in your home, make sure they know not to get in the frame.
Be Mindful of Your Camera Angle
We instinctively want to be able to make level eye contact. When we can’t, something seems subtly off to us.
There are so many things we could point out here, but due to bad lighting and an extremely low camera angle, we cannot even recognize this man! The brightest point in the shot is his lampshade, which is not an expert on anything we need to hear. Finally, no one – no one – looks good from a below-the-chin shot.
You can raise your computer or phone very easily with a monitor riser, a stack of books, or even a shoe box. I tend to use books so I can get just the right height. The camera lens should be at eye-level or just a bit higher.
Our WINNER!
Kimberly Atkins shines in every way!
Kimberly Atkins, WBUR’s Washington Correspondent and MSNBC Contributor, ticks all the winning boxes with her from-home reporting. Gorgeous lighting, perfect camera angle, and lovely background.
We see Kimberly’s face and her facial expressions so clearly that it makes communicating much easier. And isn’t that one of our goals? Make the viewer’s job easier! With few obvious or subliminal distractions, Kimberly’s words come through much more clearly.
Play with these bits of advice. See what looks best for you. A little powder and pleasant clothing goes a long way, too. At first you may scoff and think that nobody really cares, but they do. You communicate far more than just the words you say. We believe it is respectful to your viewers and colleagues that you take just a few moments to prepare and take up the space you deserve.
By taking just a little bit of time to make these adjustments, these easy adaptations, you will absolutely SHINE as a meeting participant or pundit on the national news scene.