Get Better at Zoom (Part 3): Wardrobe and Colors
If you want people to be able to see you, and I assume you do, the clothing you wear on Zoom matters even more than usual. Technical limitations of most webcams put boundaries on what you should wear based on your skin tone and background:
In this article:
Other articles in this series:
Part One: Tips & Tools
Part Two: Background & Lighting
Part Three: Wardrobe & Colors
Exposure
High contrast (something very dark and very light) in the same frame can confuse the camera. You lose all detail in the shadows--the blue sweater looks like a black robe--and light areas look way too shiny.
Your webcam has some limitations that can make it difficult to see you if you wear certain outfits. Take a look at these two photos. I took them moments apart wearing the same shirt with the same lighting--the only thing I’ve changed is the sweater.
In the first image my shirt is pink check, but in the second photo the same shirt (and face) appear white. Photographers call this “blown out” and it happens because the camera doesn’t know how to expose the photo. Put more simply, it doesn’t know how much light should be in the photo. So the camera guesses what should be white, and darkens everything else.
The cheapest solution is to wear outfits with less contrast. For example, here’s the same shirt layered with a medium brown jacket. There are also webcams on the market that utilize HDR, meaning that they take a series of photos and combine them for the best exposure. They are helpful but can be a little spendy.
I know that’s complicated, but here’s your takeaway: high contrast (something very dark and very light) in the same frame can confuse the camera. You lose all detail in the shadows. The blue sweater looks like a black robe and light areas look way too shiny.
The cheapest solution is to wear outfits with less contrast, relative both to other items and to your skin tone.
White Balance
There is also such a thing as too little contrast, as seen in this next image, which leads us to the second webcam issue: the camera doesn’t know what white is. If you don’t do much photography, you’ve probably never thought about white as anything other than a universal color. But your eye contextualizes white based on your environment.
With the black jacket, the camera has more information to understand the full color range but it’s still not the best image. Again we’ve lost all detail in the jacket and the shirt is mostly blown out.
White can be a little bluish during the day and a little red at sunset. As proof, think no further than the last time you went to buy paint. The sea of white paint chips is overwhelming. Some are more gray, some are more blue, some are more yellow and nothing is named “white.”
Similarly, your camera tries to infer what white looks like in every image. Most cameras use a neutral color called 18% Gray and interpret colors based on that reference point. In this image of me wearing just the white dress shirt, the shirt actually looks more gray, plus my face and background are both pretty dark. When I wear the black jacket, the camera has more information to understand the full color range. The camera can contextualize 18% Gray and suddenly paints the shirt very white and the jacket very dark.
The shirt-with-jacket photo is a better option, but it’s still not the best image. Again we’ve lost all detail in the jacket and the shirt is mostly blown out. It’s probably passable for most calls but there is a better way.
Your background can’t be brighter than you are. If you have a window behind you, relocate your desk.
Avoid super high-contrast outfits.
Your skin tone and your background both count as colors. If you have a darker skin tone and a white wall behind you, you’re going to need a lot more light on your face to see detail.
Use middle key colors on camera.
Middle Key Colors
What are middle key colors? You can think of them as color values that aren’t too bright and they aren’t too dark. They are just right for being seen on your average camera. The grays aren’t so dark they become black, nor are they so bright they become white.
Creative Commons License from CUNY New York City College of Technology
You can see my blue shirt is well-exposed in both frames. The shirt and sweater are both middle key colors that aren’t too far from my skin tone or background. In fact, the sweater image is best because (1) we’ve limited the contrast (2) given the camera some white balance information by adding the gray sweater and (3) used middle key colors relative to my skin and background.
I hope this enables you to pick out great outfits that establish a good camera presence. This article is part three of a series on virtual conference improvement. The first two:
If the technical aspects of this interest you, here are some great resources for further reading:
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