Your appearance in a Zoom meeting is influenced by different factors, including the quality of your camera, your lighting, and your facial features. When you need to project a professional and polished look, Zoom offers a few options to enhance yourself on your computer. You can tap into HD video on supported cameras. You can reduce certain facial imperfections. You can also compensate for low lighting conditions.
SEE: Zoom 101: A guidebook for beginners and business pros (TechRepublic Premium)
First, Zoom periodically adds new features to enhance your appearance, so make sure you’re running the latest version. To do that, open Zoom on your computer. Click your profile photo or icon in the upper-right of the main screen and select the command to Check For Updates.
Next, click the Settings icon at the main screen and then select Video. This is where we’ll confirm or adjust all of the settings for your appearance.
Most current and recent webcams support HD, or high definition, video. Your webcam may include HD as part of the name; otherwise, you can run a search on your webcam to confirm that it’s HD. If so, make sure the box for Enable HD is checked to ensure that you’re using your camera’s high resolution (Figure A).
Figure A
Next, check the box for Touch Up My Appearance. The purpose of this option is to smooth out wrinkles, blemishes, and other imperfections on your face. Play with the adjustment by moving the circle on the slider bar right and left. Too little, and your blemishes may still appear; too much, and your face will look unnatural, so you’ll want to strive for some middle ground (Figure B).
Figure B
The next option for Adjust For Low Light is designed to compensate for poor lighting conditions by brightening the image. Check the box to see if your lighting improves. Then, click the box to change the setting from Auto to Manual. You can now adjust the adding lighting by moving the circle on the slider bar. The goal is to improve your lighting just enough without making your appearance look too bright and washed out (Figure C).
Figure C
Next, click the Advanced button in the lower-right. To ensure the best quality video, make sure all four options at the top are checked. The option for Enable De-noise tries to generate a clearer, smoother video. The other three options attempt to enhance the rendering of the video feed. The next option for Video Rendering Method sets the type of graphics API used to render the video. You can leave this set to Auto to allow Zoom to determine the best setting (Figure D).
Figure D
Finally, Zoom offers a few filters to change your video appearance. In the Settings screen, click Background & Filters and then select the heading for Video Filters. Most of the filters change your appearance too dramatically and unnaturally. Depending on your skin tone, try the filters for Boost, Cream, and Seafoam to see if you prefer the new filtered look (Figure E).
Figure E
