If your signature Zoom look is early-’90s home video, you’ve come to the right place. This is a guide to looking your best at the virtual office—whether or not you decide to wear the same sweatpants everyday.
During the pandemic, cloud-based video calling enabled everything from all-hands meetings to remote workout classes to weddings—and with Covid-19 cases on the rise again, it doesn’t look like our Zoom life is going to stop soon.
We’ve already gone over how to sound your best. And how to make sure your Wi-Fi isn’t the problem—seriously, solve any connection issues first. Here, we cover the last piece of the puzzle: getting professional, high-definition image quality for your next important meeting.
Unfortunately, your best isn’t going to come from your laptop’s webcam. In a test comparing the newest Mac and Windows machines, we found the computers’ built-in cameras produce poor, grainy footage, especially if you aren’t in a room with ideal lighting conditions. (Having ample soft lighting on your face—and not behind it—will improve the quality of any webcam.)
