How to Look Better on Webcam

1. Put the light in front of you

The single most common mistake is sitting with a window or lamp behind you, which turns you into a silhouette. Move so the light source is in front, slightly above eye level. During the day, facing a window beats every piece of equipment you could buy.

2. Raise the camera to eye level

A laptop on a desk points upward at you. It is the least flattering angle that exists and it is the default for most people. Put the laptop on some books until the camera is level with your eyes. This costs nothing and is the biggest single improvement after lighting.

3. Frame yourself properly

Head and shoulders, eyes roughly a third from the top, a little space above your head. Too close reads as intense; too far reads as disengaged. Centre yourself.

4. Fix the background

A tidy, uncluttered background makes you look better by association and is also the safe choice — anything identifying should be out of frame anyway. Depth helps: sitting a metre from the wall looks considerably better than being pressed against it.

5. Sort out the audio

Bad audio ends more calls than bad video. Any wired earphones with a mic beat a laptop’s built-in microphone, which picks up the whole room. If people ask you to repeat yourself, this is why, and it costs almost nothing to fix.

What not to bother with

Beauty filters — usually obvious, and they read as trying too hard. A new webcam before you have fixed the light — a good camera in bad light still looks bad. Virtual backgrounds, which mangle your edges every time you move.

Then work on the first four seconds

Once you look and sound right, the opener is what is left. How to start a conversation covers that, and it matters more in a one-on-one call than in an open random queue.