Getting good at Zoom Virtual Backgrounds
COVID-19 has skyrocketed the number of people on zoom for both personal and business, and I’ve seen a lot of virtual backgrounds. With a little effort, you can make these backgrounds a lot of fun.
For me, these backgrounds are simply a way to introduce a bit of fun into the meeting, but it’s important that people realize backgrounds are currently not thought of as a professional thing to have up. So for the important and external meetings, we all need to just think about what’s behind us and turn off those backgrounds.
The basics
Before getting into the fun stuff, you need to take into consideration a few things to make your backgrounds really work: your lighting, view point, actual background, and what you’re wearing.
(if you don’t know how to use virtual background there’s a great tutorial on zoom)
Lighting
Lighting is the single most important thing and the thing that people get wrong the most, even if you’re not using a virtual background, you need to be intentional about your lighting! It really makes all the difference.
Simply put light your face well. For me I’ve found that light from the side works best as it adds some visual distinction and makes lines a little sharper.
View point
I’ve seen a lot of backgrounds of people in offices or cool rooms, but they look weird because people haven’t taken into consideration the view of the computer, take this as an example:
One of these makes it look like I’m sitting at the desk, the other makes it look like I have a picture of the office behind me.
So to get the best results first think about where your computer is sitting in your office (are you standing or sitting?) then find backgrounds that match that from your computer’s perspective. You are your computer when looking for virtual backgrounds ;)
Actual background
So what’s behind you when you’re on a zoom? If you have a window or a light that is shining directly onto an object, zoom will often pick that up. For me there’s a chair with a soft plaid design that the sunlight really picks up, and often Zoom thinks that is me and captures it along with my face.
Cleaning up the background a bit will really help make your virtual background work. Take some time to test your backgrounds and see if there’s anything that will mess with what you’re trying to do.
Simple backgrounds like a wall work best.
What you’re wearing
Solid colors and not fuzzy items works best, but it really matters less than you think. I have had a few issues with plaid though.
Background Inspiration
There’s a lot you can do with a virtual background and I would love to hear your ideas. Here are a few categories that I’m enjoying. Special shoutout to Unsplash.com for a lot of these images:
Attractive walls
For a simple, clean, and non-distracting background, you can’t beat an attractive wall. The simplicity of it all lets you use this even in professional some settings.
Great interiors
Beautiful views
Iconic
Movies and TV
Other things to think about
Clean up just once
Probably the most practical use of the virtual background is to hide the messiness of your space. Take the time to clean up your background once, then take a picture of your space using your webcam and use that as your virtual background. Then when it gets messy, your virtual background will hide it :)
As long as your lighting is similar, most people won’t be able to tell the difference. Speaking of lighting…
Match your lighting to your background
Lighting is the most important thing for zoom, whether you’re using a virtual background or not… But if you really want to take your backgrounds to the next level, then you need to think about the lighting that your background has and try and match that. Artificial or natural lighting? Where are the light sources? Match those and your background will look simply amazing.
