Crushing on Corners for Video Calls
The biggest challenge to looking professional on video calls today isn't my lack of professional hair cut or commitment to pairing button-down blouses with stretchy sweatpants. It's finding a clean background and keeping it clean.
Depth of field (or having space behind you) is a very effective way of creating visual interest in your video background. But the more space you have behind you, the more space you need to fill with nice things. I live alone, but with a dog who has many toys strewn across the floor at all times. I can only imagine what this is like with human children.
Turns out there's a very simple solution and every room has at least one of them - shooting into corners.
The most stunning example I came across recently is the Queen of TV. Here's a screen grab from today's Today Show:
The lighting is perfectly balanced, which makes me think this is actually a photograph and not Oprah's actual sunroom (she's allowed her privacy, after all). But the angles of the windows going into the corner of the room create enough depth to make this a TV-worthy shot.
Trevor Noah has been using this setup for most of his time shooting remotely:
This looks like way closer to an actual TV set than his original setup where he sat on his couch in front of a book shelf.
Here's another recent example of Alexis Honce, fashion expert on The Marilyn Denis Show:
A few takeaways from the composition of all three:
- Make sure the corner of the room is off centre, not directly behind you. This strengthens the visual depth of the shot, without having a bizarre shadow shoot from the top of your head.
- Background lighting is just as important and tricky as lighting more open spaces. But here's where the corner is forgiving. The viewer (or in the case of video calls, the participants) know they're looking into a corner. The shadows have a purpose and context, so they're not as distracting.
- The bigger the art, the stronger the pull of the deep focus. Plus it's great real estate for any personal branding you may want to incorporate into the shot.
For more tips on how to improve your video presence, follow my Instagram @mcewenmedia