Video conferencing lighting tips for your next video call

The year 2020 changed the way most people do business. Millions of Americans now work from home via videoconferencing apps and VoIP. While it's more convenient for many people, poor video conferencing lighting can distract the others in your meeting and create an overall poor impression. Follow these videoconferencing tips to get the lighting right in time for your next meeting.

Use natural light as much as possible

Natural light works best for most webcam and home video setups. You may have no trouble seeing in a reasonably well-lit room, but most cameras struggle to render an image at the low light levels most home office lighting uses. Ideally, you can appear in front of the camera with the brightest light you can get, which gives the camera something to work with and helps straighten out a natural color balance. Because the sun is so bright, light from an unshaded window usually works best for this.

If you can't arrange to get enough natural light into your home office workspace, there are some office light ideas that work very well for video conferencing. Consider investing in a video light for your desk. Video lights often have ring-shaped bulbs that cast bright white light that makes a decent substitute for direct sunlight in rooms that would otherwise be too dark.

Face the light

The light coming through your window or off the video lamp is probably bright enough to cast clear shadows behind whatever it lights. This can be distracting if the shadow falls across your face, which should be the focus of your video feed. Common webcams usually have a hard time resolving this kind of shading, and the result can be a pixelated effect or a shimmering aura around your head.

You can avoid this by setting up your light directly ahead while you face the camera. Alternatively, you can position your desk and chair to face the window with the best natural light coming through. Try not to allow other light sources behind you or to the side, since this creates uneven light patterns the camera can probably pick up on. If you prefer not to stare directly into a glowing ring of light during a videoconference, you can usually mount your light a little higher than eye level and let it illuminate you from above.

Test your lighting before the conference

As careful as you are to face the window, you should set up some artificial lighting and adjust the angles, as there's still a chance you might have unwanted shade or other issues interfering with good videoconferencing lighting. Once you have your home office lighting set up, it's usually a good idea to test run everything before your next meeting. You can do this in several ways, such as making a short video of yourself using the camera you plan to use for calls, or you can even make a short call to a friend or coworker over VoIP to test the lighting in real time through Microsoft Teams. Ideally, you can run your video feed to one of your other devices and make adjustments as you go until everything looks good.

Video Conferencing lighting is just one of the things remote workers need to think about when working from home. Find out more about communicating effectively with your teams with 8x8's excellent and informative resources. Contact us today for a consultation.