We're gonna dive in on this lesson two. How do you zoom to maximize your workflow and presence as a creator. So as a creator communication is key, Whether you're talking to one person or 50,000 communication is used to amplify your brand to drive your message across to talk to your community. So in this lesson we're going to go over a few tips and tricks on how to maximize just your overall space, camera angle lighting effects and the use the tactical use of virtual backgrounds when working day to day as a creator with your audience. So let's dive in. You can see here that I have a graphic on the screen that I prepared just to kind of show you the subtle differences the camera itself can make and by the way this doesn't cost a lot of money. So let's go over the three images and then we'll talk about how to achieve this. So if you're looking left to right, you'll see. And I put some words in there too. The problem with the first images, it's okay people have done that before on zoom, es...

pecially for the last two years. But to me, there's a lot of ceiling space there and it kind of makes it look like you're looking down on somebody and there's a whole thing about, you know, you know, size and relationship on zoom is that if you kind of have too much space above or let's jump to the right side. Too much space below. It kind of makes it awkward, doesn't it? So we always refer that to worms. I and bird's eye view too. So one tip and trick that we love to cover today is just going for an even eye level framing and you're saying, well, you know what Pat, I use my laptop. I don't really have a choice. What do you do? You know what? No one can see your surroundings if you don't want them to. So let's lift the laptop up. Let's put it on an egg crate. Let's put it on a couple of books. Let's get the camera to that level. So if your eye level, people feel like you're communicating with you rather than talking down or talking up to you. And by the way, no one wants to talk up or down. The someone on zoom doesn't look flattering at all. Okay, so now that we talked about camera angle and the importance of just that slight little adjustment makes, let's talk about the next thing is lighting and sometimes you say, you know what, I work at my dining room table or my art studios in the basement or I have a window in the room I can't really avoid. So there's certain types of tricks we can talk around. So let me share my next screen. You'll notice that simply the idea of balanced light versus on balanced light makes the biggest difference. In some cases you may not have a lot of lights to play with and maybe you do some people have studios, some people, you know, have a lamp and that's okay. We're gonna talk about two simple setups for your home office or your creator's space To look at number one, if you look at balanced lighting, the use of a lamp, the use of a small device that lights the use of natural light coming in through a window is very important. What you don't want to do and it shows it here on the left side is have the light source behind you that tends to do is it tends to darken the screen coming a silhouette. Now in zoom, as we mentioned a few chapters ago, we can turn on account for low light and it'll help. But there's also things you can do physically to help the situation as well. So in the next Diagram, you'll see a typical layout of an office, a room, a bedroom doesn't matter and you'll see there's a person in a desk set up and just make sure that light sources in front of you, preferably at a 45° angle and at your face level or higher. And some people say, well I have a lamp perfect. Some people go out to like, you know, the local hardware store and buy a shop lamp and clip it to a pole or or to a chair that works to in some cases you can buy other lights that we'll talk about later. We have a few options to show you. But the important thing is that light is in front of you and is shutting down on you over the computer screen itself. Now, you might say to me, Pat, this is great, we can do that. I will lamp, we're good to go. I'll get it as close to me as possible, we'll get that lit well, but I have a window to room, what do I do? So looking at that and if the windows to your left, to your right in front, the only place you don't really want the windows behind you again because it will actually cause that silhouette effect that we saw in the last picture. One thing to do for the window and it's really a small little tip and trick people don't think about is to put a sheer white curtain over the window which will soften the light coming in and then you can balance that with the lamp in front of you because if you're like me and you're on zoom and a lot of my creator series stuff happens at night. I don't have the sunlight. So I don't ever want to forget the lamp it's there as well and it won't really hurt if you have it on at the same time. But what you don't want to try to do is have the sun blaring in at you because then it'll actually create some some contrast issues on your zoom call again, not a science, it's an art play with the light that you have to make the best of the situation. Some people choose to bounce the light to the ceiling. Some people choose to close the curtain totally and just work with the available light of their lamps and that's fine. So in that creative world, the camera angle mixed with the lighting will allow you to experiment and play until you get the look you're trying to achieve. Okay, so now that we talked about a little about camera angle and about lighting, let's look about what's behind me here. Right? So it might be a picture might be a china closet in your kitchen. Might be, you know, a bookshelf. Well zoom has you covered there? We have the use of virtual backgrounds. Now, how can you use a virtual background? There's many ways you can simply have a beautiful picture behind you, Maybe a landscape scene or you can use it intentionally and I'll show you how to do that right here. So on the screen, you'll see me here back to our meeting. You'll see under video camera, there's an option called choose virtual backgrounds. I click that, you'll see the gallery and we give you three or four backgrounds to play with. By the way we have a blur, which just kind of takes your background itself and adds a blur to it. So you really can't see what's back there. You have a couple of pictures here, but also it's very easy for you to install your own backgrounds by clicking on this plus sign right here and you can add an image from your computer, from your library or add a video itself because yes, we do do video backgrounds. So showcasing it here. If I click on this one, I'm now sitting in front of the bridge. But if I click on this one, the Northern Lights, you'll see they're moving behind me. So let's talk about how we can use this to help amplify our brand as a creator. Well, first and foremost, it might be a picture of one of my photographs or paintings or if I'm partnering with somebody to deliver a course, I might put a personalized background down that has their logo as well. So you can put messaging behind you that helps pull that message forward and celebrate. I always love when I'm on the calls at zoom. If I'm on a call with the school district or a customer always put a background on that has their logo or a picture of their main building and nine times out of 10 before we even talk about what the meeting's about, they'll say, wait, that's our building and they really get a kick out of it. So if you have clients that say your wedding photographer or you're an artist or or you're a painter or a sculptor and you can actually are doing a gallery reveal of the pictures you took is have them up behind you have them almost like a mock gallery wall because when they get that instant bond that instant association with your, with your client, with your fans, the community before you even talk about what the meeting is about. So right here, that virtual background, you can do the same thing in the last lesson, we talked about something called immersive. You when we talked about video fatigue, you can do the same thing there. Maybe you don't want a background on because you want that more intimate feeling. You can jump back up here to immersive view and upload your own immersive view that celebrates your partnership or your community. So they feel like, oh, I'm actually in his office looking at my photos even though I can't be there in person, really takes that branding piece a little further. So to recap what we talked about here in the first part of creator is number one paying attention and looking at your camera angle makes a big difference if your eye level, people can associate with you just on a relaxed level. The second one is our lighting. We talked about tips and tricks on how to position lights, how to um handle window light coming in And lastly, the very powerful use of backgrounds and immersive use to amplify your brand and to make your audience feel more comfortable

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Pat La Morte

Pat La Morte is the Global Education Solutions Lead for Zoom Video Communications, Pat leverages his extensive education and communications background help guide the company towards supporting the future of education.

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How to Create Your Online Presence

How to Create Your Online Presence

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4. How to Create Your Online Presence

Lessons

Class Intro & Zoom Background

The Best You On Zoom

Getting Others Involved On Zoom