Having a nice background during your zoom meetings is important. In order to avoid having a messy background, you can use a virtual background for your Zoom meetings. Zoom allows you to change your virtual background to any image you have on your computer. In your meeting, go to the Camera Icon and click the up arrow. Select "Choose Virtual Background." But the virtual background isn't perfect, and can often leave you disappearing into the image. Here are three suggestions on how to get the perfect look with a green screen or virtual background.
1) Make sure you are evenly lit
Because Zoom meetings take place on a laptop or desktop, it's easy to have uneven lighting. Zoom detects the darker areas of your frame as the background. When you are not well lit, then Zoom assumes you are part of the backdrop. This causes that "disappearing, repairing" affect. To avoid this, make sure you are well lit. Sitting in front of a window is a great way to improve your lighting.
2) The distance between you and your computer should be closer than the distance between you and your background
Using a virtual background means that Zoom will remove your background and replace it with an uploaded image. One way Zoom detects what should or should not be removed, is the focal distance. You want to sit closer to your computer than you are to your background, so that Zoom doesn't blur you into the background. Putting distance between you and your background will keep the green screen backdrop in tact. This also helps prevent your shadow from falling onto the green screen. We suggest sitting close enough to your computer so that your upper-body is in frame without too much headroom. Your background should be twice the distance away from you that you are from your computer. So if you are sitting 2 feet away from your computer, your background should be 4 feet behind you. This will keep your face the main object of focus, so that you don't disappear into the backdrop.
3) Any plain wall will do - it doesn’t have to be green
The good thing is you don't have to use professional green screen in order to use a virtual background on Zoom. Instead, you can use a plain wall for your backdrop. Having a plain wall of any color is much easier for Zoom's technology to recognize what should be removed vs what should be left on screen. It can be difficult for Zoom to accurately remove the background when you're sitting in front of a busy room. A plain wall without any decorations works perfectly for the green screen effect. Even when the wall isn't green!
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