Warning Cookies are used on this site to provide the best user experience. If you continue, we assume that you agree to receive cookies from this site. OK

How To Avoid Glare On Glasses In Zoom Calls

Nov 18, 2021
by

If you wear reading glasses, then Zoom calls or recording videos can be a real problem.

You’ll need to either take them off for the duration of the call or video session, but won't be able to read from your notes or computer screen or deal with the light reflections from them.

No wonder some people get annoyed with light reflections causing annoying glare on the lenses of their glasses. How do we get around such an issue?

You need to know that when light reflects off of your glasses at the same angle at which it was hit, it will create reflections in front of you or behind you.

So if your webcam is next to the light and you're looking into the webcam, when light hits your glasses it is reflected off of them straight back into your camera or into your screen; creating glare in your image.

How far is the webcam away from your monitor? If it's too close you'll get a reflection of your glasses that will show up on the camera.

To avoid monitor glare on your desktop webcam and live stream, try moving your light and camera around. One option is to change the height of the light's position. However, you can also reposition your lighting off to the side of the camera to get an even better effect.

Height of Your Light

A simple lighting setup when using the Zoom video calling service can include having a desk lamp or video light near your camera to increase the quality of the image.

The webcam in this scenario is positioned so that it would be approximately straight in front of you, and since it's probably at eye level, any glare seen on the lens tends to reflect back to one's eyes from objects sitting directly next to your computer screen.

You can raise the lamp up to reduce the glare on the webcam. A small vertical distance is enough for the broad light source to reflect towards the camera’s side so that it does not appear in front of your image.

This accomplishes two effective things: it increases your webcam image quality and it helps you remove or reduce eyeglass glare.

The Horizontal Position of Your Light

To fix the glare in your glasses, you might need to adjust the angle of the light source. So try changing the lamp's position to get better lighting across your face.

Having just one light source on your scene creates intense shadows, so adding a second source of light can help illuminate the other areas that are being cast in shadow.

You just have to be careful not to have the second light too bright because you want to keep its intensity less than the first light's.

If you don’t have a secondary lighting source, you can still make do by reflecting some of the light from the lamp by using a white foam board.

You don’t need to use a specific type of product or follow any particular rules when it comes to materials!

You can use printer paper if that is all that is on hand. In fact, there are no real limitations here. And yes, it doesn’t need to look fancy because it will be out of shot.

Don't Look Towards The Light

Make sure to adjust the light in the room to prevent glare on your glasses.

Remember that looking into the light will reflect off your glasses and into your camera, so if you want to avoid that, just look away from the camera - adjusting your body position slightly should be enough to correct the problem.

You may not want to look directly into the webcam lens, but resist the urge to constantly look away from the camera. An unnatural back-and-forth movement can reinforce feelings of disengagement.

Position of Office Lights

Many people think that the lighting used in TV studios is just really bright, but several lights collectively light up the full set rather than one or two main ones.

The light doesn't have to be directly in front of you either. You can generally feel confident that your glasses won't cause glare in your webcam if it's not shining directly on them.

Of course, regardless of how fancy your office is, the room probably won't have professional video lighting. But regardless, it should have enough lights to be reasonably bright.

Most offices tend to be white on the walls because this helps to make the ambient room light brighter. After all, the walls will act as natural diffusers and reflectors.

So just turn on all the lights and maximize ambient lighting by doing so!

A home office is not subject to the same rules as conventional workspaces, so it may be a little darker. However, you can increase ambient lighting levels by switching your light bulbs for LED-based bulbs.

Also, you can watch DIY Video Studio videos to learn more about light positioning!

Large Soft Light

Soft light is similar to a studio light. It has a large rectangular box, umbrella (umbrella light), or umbrella softbox built around the main lighting fixture with large white nylon mesh or diffuser material.

When placing a light behind a webcam, adding a small softbox just 2 feet away will provide strong fill and reduce glare on the glasses.

Avoiding webcam glares is easy to do with the use of a large soft light. This way it will be so much easier for you to look at the camera while broadcasting on your webcam.

Why? Because if you accidentally look toward the light source it won’t be as noticeable on your glasses because the reflection of the harsh light or bright daylight would be subtle.

The main benefit of using soft light, such as a ring light, is that they have a flattering effect.

Soft lights (ring lights) tend to wrap around your features, smoothing out shadows and making things like wrinkles and lines less noticeable even if you happen to be in the presence of lighting.

If you’re going to participate in many video conferences with your team over the internet, getting a few continuous lighting setups might make sense.

These are supposed to improve both your appearance on camera and improve communication overall.

Window Light

If you have set up your computer or laptop facing a window, the lovely natural light from the sun may be affecting how clearly you can see those on camera.

Although the broad window light produces nice illumination for photographs or video conferences, this same feature has a tendency to produce a glare on glasses.

Before placing your laptop and webcam, do a test with your mobile phone. Keep the webcam of your mobile going at arm’s length from your face, as if it were a selfie video.

Then turn around on the spot until you lose the glare on your glasses then that’s where you'll need to set up your computer or webcam.

Having a separate reflector is an excellent idea as it will allow you to bounce some additional light into the shadows on the side of your subject's face furthest from the window. You can either use a white foam core board, a desk lamp, or a softbox.

Best Glasses for Perfect Zoom Calls!

If you have to make video calls continuously at your work or daily life, you should use blue-light-blocking glasses that block damaging blue light rays.

The glasses you should choose for a perfect video call and Zoom conferences are on GetGlasses.Online

BUY NOW

BUY NOW

BUY NOW


Get Glasses Online Always With You!

Looking for the best in online eyewear? Not sure if you can trust what you’re getting?

GetGlasses.Online offers the most-trusted selection of products such as prescription non-prescription glasses, glare-free lenses, and sunglasses in the industry.

With an exclusive Money-Back Guarantee backing each purchase, you can be confident in returning anything that doesn’t meet your approval.

Our Commitment is to offer huge savings to our customers!

Comments

No posts found

New post