Up your WFH game and look glamorous on camera

As I often say to my friends on the ski slope who are trying to take their sport to the next level, if you look good, then you are good. No, I do not actually believe you need to look good in order to be a good skier. Nor do I believe that a well-dressed skier means they are capable of properly sending Corbets Couloir.

What I do know is that if an individual spends the time to pick through gear options, assess the style/function trade-offs of various technical and fashion elements, they tend to take more pride in their performance and this almost always leads to an increased commitment to improving ski technique. As a side benefit, most people attribute a well-outfitted skier with a technically capable one so, in the end, even a small effort here pays off.

If you look good, then you are good

But what does this have to do with you? I don't need to look good to be great you say to yourself, you know you are good. This may certainly be true, but I don't believe you as I stare at your highly pixelated, shadowed, tiny face being broadcast through that smudged Logitech C920 1080p webcam. Or, even worse, a clear, well-lit 4K upshot of your nostrils from your laptop placed conveniently on your lap; after all, it is a laptop right?

You need to up your game in order for the people on the other end of the interweb to take you seriously. You are a professional WFHer and you know how to leverage this new medium in order to deliver results. Let's learn how.

Step 1: Commit to the new medium

If you think this mode of working will revert back to the 'old way' of working, you are wrong. One of the indelible fingerprints of COVID-19 is the expedited adoption of working from home. On one hand, a good portion of the knowledge-worker base out there actually enjoys the flexibility of remote work.

You will spend more time on camera with your clients and colleagues going forward than you previously thought

On the other hand, enterprises are realizing that implementing and actually exercising a remote work program is now a fiduciary responsibility as a hedge against the next global event. You will spend more time on camera with your clients and colleagues going forward than you previously thought.

Step 2: Show up to work at home

Prior to this pandemic, I spent 50% of my time traveling, visiting clients at their offices, and at events. When I worked from home for the remaining 50% (noting that my employer has no offices and is 100% remote), I often took liberties with the medium and chose to stay off-camera at times, accepted poor lighting, passed on webinars, and virtually ignored the LinkedIn live phenomenon.

I realized I needed to have the same presence in the WFH mode as I did with the F2F mode of work

What I failed to realize is that my clients also work from home, and in fact, they are often more accessible there. I needed to have the same presence in the WFH mode as I did with the F2F mode of work. The challenge, however, is that these two work modes are drastically different and do not possess the same levers for me to pull in order to make the encounter a success.

Step 3: Learn how to produce yourself

John Krasinski's extremely popular Some Good News is a great example of switching formats, from a professionally produced show like Jack Ryan, to his current show which gives us a dearly needed glimmer of hope and a smile from the confines of John's home. The only issue here is that John is cheating. This is not an example you can follow. John is a professional actor who pre-records this show which is edited by professionals. He interviews (mostly) professional guests. You need to learn how to produce yourself without these aids and do so day in and day out from here on, live. Don't worry, I'll tell you how.

This is where this piece gets technical folks, and we'll move fast. The good thing is that if I lose you, I will be covering this topic on LinkedIn live, just check my LinkedIn profile for the next show. There you can ask questions and even see the gear used in action.

Producing You

This guide will focus on tools and equipment and not theory. With that said, in certain areas, you can not successfully operate without a theoretical foundation in place so I will provide you resources and snippets to serve as cliff notes to get you to to the finish line.

This guide will not provide you a balanced view either. I have a particular point of view, which evolves but can be currently described by the slider below.

Whereas you can certainly plop your laptop on your desk, open it up and hop onto Zoom, I would call that approach Super Basic. On the other hand, you could sequester an entire room of your house, pad it out, and fill it with $50K worth of production gear and produce your own show, Some Even Better News, and put Krasinski to shame. As you can see in the depiction above, my preferred setting on this scale is closer to the high end of things. The recommendations I make below are tempered by the setting on this dial.

Required Pre-Reads

Here are some basic theory videos you will need to watch in order to move forward from here. They are short. Spoiler Alert: In order to look good working from home you will need to move away from webcams and to proper photography or video cameras. Doing so will test your skills around the basics of these devices, but don't worry, with just a little investment in time you can dial in the right settings.

Video 1

The answer is 1/50 second shutter, low aperture (aka f-stop), and floating ISO depending on your lighting.

Video 2

The answer is 24 frames per second (FPS) & 1/50 second shutter.

Video 3

The answer is, you actually need a dedicated light shining on your face.

Video 4

The answer is, you need a zoom lens that goes from wide-angle to a medium zoom.

Lighting

What: Your key light. The primary light illuminating your face.

Considerations: Don't kid yourself, you need one. The natural light coming in your window is great until it is cloudy out or you need to take an evening call. The light coming in the window behind you will make your camera confused and darken your face. More light means you have more creative options as well. Remember from your homework above that if you can control light, you can have more freedom with the other settings, especially ISO. A key light also tells others in your home that you are 'on air', and frankly, reminds you of the same! While you can get away with Krasinski's desk lamp pointed at your face (as pictured), this isn't aesthetically pleasing to look at every day and it is not controllable from a brightness and color point of view. You will also come to appreciate the flattering shadows a proper key light will cast on your face as well as the catchlight sparkle in your eyes.

Dean's Favorite:

Elgato Key Light - These lights are specifically made for gamers who enjoy streaming their faces while playing. They work amazingly well for the rest of us looking to broadcast our face on Zoom or LinkedIn Live. You can change the intensity and color via an app or software interface, they are compact, they run cool, and they sit on or mounted to your desk depending on the model you choose.

Camera

What: Your primary camera. The replacement for your webcam.

Considerations: It's all about bokeh. You know, that lovely blurry background that makes the subject stand out and image seem artistic. Bokeh or blur can be achieved by the use of a camera with a lens which is my recommendation. You can also achieve fake bokeh or fokeh using software. While fake bokeh, like fake backgrounds, is an option, I find that fake digital rendering distracts your audience from the real thing in the shot, you. With a proper camera and lens, you will show up incredibly crisp and clear on camera with an optical blur or bokeh applied. I prefer to use a digital camera instead of a digital video camera because of the compact nature of the setup, the reusability of the device to say take pictures on vacation, and the general trend of mirrorless photography cameras winning the battle for the amateur filmmaker, and the WFM professional.

Our job working remotely is to bring as much of the human forward as possible

As you can see below, there are quite significant differences between the way you will look on camera. Do note that I utilized Logitech's BRIO 4K webcam for the two first shots. The BRIO is an amazing webcam and significantly improves over the classic C920 in that it is a high dynamic range camera and does much better in low light. In fact, the BRIO is my everyday camera and the Canon is my show camera. Finally, you can see what I am talking about in the fake blur shot regarding digitization. The background is not a pleasing blur as it is rather blotchy. Then, the subject's face is also over-processed and it lacks the shadows, textures, and realism of the photo on the right. To boot, when you move your head, the blur doesn't always follow you. For some this may seem appealing however I argue that our job working remotely is to bring as much of the human forward as possible.

Also note the shine on my rather large nose and forehead, more on that in the lens and makeup sections below.

Dean's Favorite:

Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5S - This is a tried and true camera for video bloggers, you will find plenty of tutorials and videos on how to set up and leverage this amazing little camera. The camera is optimized for movie recording and low-light performance and even has HDR capability. Now yes, I just told you to be well lit above, but, your goal is not to stretch your gear to its fullest capability but to use it well within it's operating specifications. This will deliver the best picture.

You may have noticed that this is not the camera I use. This is because I already owned a suitable spare camera for the job. An upgrade here is on the wishlist.

Lens

What: The lens you attach to your camera.

Considerations: You need to get a zoom lens (no, not a lens from Zoom) so you can dial in that perfectly framed headshot. The lens needs to accommodate a variety of situations where on the one hand you need to put the camera closer to you, perhaps in a tight office like mine, or where you have the luxury to move it further away to give yourself some breathing room. The way you describe the range of the zoom on a lens is to list the mm range, and in the case of this lens, it is 12-60mm. Since the camera I chose is what we call a micro four thirds, this same mm 'rating' can be expressed as a 24-120mm equivalent. What does this mean to you? You can position this camera anywhere from a foot in front of your face (not recommended) to several feet away. Also, this lens is considered the 'kit' lens which means basically that it works with the selected camera and it's not outrageously expensive; lenses are often far more expensive than the cameras that they are attached to.

So why did I recommend against placing this camera right in front of your face? If you look back up to the photos of our test subject, me, you will notice that my already large nose looks exceptionally large. I am using what is known as a prime (not zoom) 12mm micro four thirds lens. This is considered a very wide-angled lens. I use this lens because my WFH setup is compact and I have no room to move the camera further away. It works but there are trade-offs, most notably, it makes my nose look big.

Dean's Favorite:

Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Elmarit 12-60mm F/2.8-4 - This is simply the 'kit lens' included in the camera bundle linked to above. It is perhaps used by more video bloggers than any other lens out there. It has the right focal length to adapt to a wide variety of use-cases and the autofocus will keep you sharp in your next Zoom meeting or live stream.

Encoder / Computer Connection

What: The technology you need to use to connect your digital camera to your computer.

Considerations: You might be thinking right now, why don't I just plug the camera into a USB port like I do with my webcam, and, you would be correct! In fact, there are a few software options available for you to do just that. However, there are also firms out there that allow you to do the same thing but with a piece of hardware in-between, so what gives?

The two options above will give you very similar results when using streaming services such as Zoom and MS Teams. So, for everyday use, if your camera can leverage a software solution to connect your digital camera, you are set. This is, however, unacceptable to me. If you have gone to the extreme of buying an amazing mirrorless digital camera, you are limiting yourself by piping your video through a USB connection. Why? Currently, the software & USB connection option limits the resolution and frame rate of your video, which varies depending on your setup. So, you can get it working, but, you are likely going to reduce the quality of your end product. Sure, Zoom and live stream platforms like LinkedIn live don't even broadcast at 1080p (HD), so you might be able to get away with the USB route. You are however limiting your options to someday stream 4K to Vimeo, YouTube, or simply record to your computer so that you or your team can edit and post a pre-recorded video in glorious HD or 4K. Do note that much of what you see out there today has indeed been pre-recorded. When doing so, you want to allow for the highest resolution recording to be captured and edited prior to downgrading to the given destination platform. The USB route will not currently allow you to do that.

Dean's Favorites:

Elgato CamLink 4k - The most popular option out there.

Epiphan AV.io 4K - The backup to the most popular option.

Blackmagic Design Intensity Pro 4K - An internal version of a capture card.

Just because I will get questions and inevitably have to post, here are the USB software options that I have used:

EOS Webcam Utility - Brand new software in beta.

SparkoCam - Works for Canon and Nikon cameras only.

*You are correct, I have provided you no software option for the camera I recommended.

Microphone / Computer Connection

What: Your microphone and associated equipment to connect to your computer.

Considerations: When it comes time to put down your daily Zoom device (I personally love and use the Plantronics Voyager Focus) and switch over to a high fidelity microphone, you need to move into the realm of professional equipment. Why would you do this? Well, I could attempt to explain here how much more alive and present you will sound in one of these microphones, but I wouldn't be able to do justice. Just listen to differences between the host of this podcast and their guest. If you ever plan to consider recording your own podcast, recording video locally to send away for editing, or join a live stream, which often has the ability to broadcast higher fidelity audio, you should consider a professional microphone. As a side benefit, the optics of a microphone in your video can up your game just from an aesthetic point of view. If you look good then you...

When choosing a microphone you have to consider connection types and microphone types. As far as connections go, you have USB or XLR (and sure others, but I'll ignore). Since I told you I am focused on the higher end and more professional world, you got it, we will be talking about XLR connections. Then, you have to choose between dynamic and condenser microphones. Since you just watched that last video link you will know that a dynamic microphone gives you some reasonable ambient noise protection as well as that deep broadcast voice sound. This is what I prefer for broadcast video work so we arrive at the recommendation, dynamic microphones.

Now it is time to connect that microphone to your computer. Because our microphone uses an XLR connection, it is a dynamic mic with 'low output', and you need the power to operate certain components, we'll need a few more pieces of hardware. You might be thinking this is all getting out of hand and you'll just go ahead and buy that Snowball mic on Amazon. Sure, that's an option and an easy way to upgrade as it simply connects through USB. This, however, doesn't qualify for my taste and doesn't get me closer to that elusive BBC News quality feel.

Dean's Favorite:

Shure SM7B - I mean, the writing on the box spells it out, "The Legendary Vocal Microphone". It is.

Cloudlifter CL-1 - The SM7B output is so low that you need this, well, to lift the microphone's level. It requires phantom power to operate but don't worry, the device below provides that.

Focusrite Scarlett Solo - So your microphone plugs into the Cloudlifter and the Cloudlifter plugs into the Scarlett Solo. This device is flat out cool. It first allows your fancy new microphone to show up on your computer as an input in Zoom, Teams, whatever. It also allows you to adjust your voice loudness so you can choose to talk really close to your microphone, or further away, depending on if you have lots of ambient noise in the room. The device also acts as an output or speaker for your computer. So, you plug in some headphones and now you can hear yourself through your mic and you can hear the other folks on your Zoom call etc. There is also a second input for a guitar or piano should you wish to really spice things up on your daily stand up!

Headphones

What: The headphones you use when leveraging your professional microphone.

Considerations: Now that you are taking special care to ensure that your voice is broadcast to perfection, you need to be able to monitor yourself. Directly connecting headphones to your audio device allows you to do this. Another benefit of doing this is that you limit the audio feedback coming from your speakers from being fed back into your microphone. Now, software like Zoom prevents this from happening, usually, but you don't want to risk it. You also want to isolate your ears from the environmental sounds of your workspace so you can better tell how much of that sound is being picked up by your microphone. Finally, you want the audience to focus on you and not your headphones, so they need to be as discrete as possible.

Dean's Favorite:

Shure SE425-CL - Every detail is brought to you crystal clear while isolating noises from the room with these 'in-ear monitors' (IEM). If you wear these such that the cord goes down your back your audience won't even know you are wearing them. Take a look at the picture of Paul Estes at the bottom of this article, can you see his IEMs? They plug right into the Focusrite Scarlett recommended above.

Automation

What: A push-button macro device to switch A/V modes easily.

Considerations: This is truly a nice-to-have but absolutely fun-to-have solution. The challenge I was trying to solve for was switching between audio outputs easily as I moved from listing to music at my desk, to say taking an internal Zoom call, to broadcasting live. My WFH setup has Focusrite/headphones, Plantronics headphones, and Bose speakers. Sure I can use my computer's settings to switch, but a push-button solution would be much more fun.

Dean's Favorite:

Elgato Stream Deck Mini - I have to warn you, this thing was made for gamers so most of the out-of-box settings are geared towards that. With some research, depending on your computer, you can get this thing to do almost anything, however. I have this setup to switch between my various outputs as well as mute my professional microphone. It comes in very handy and is something you should consider only after you have gone through and upgraded your WFH studio. Once you learn how your new setup works, after you figure out your workflow, you can insert this as an automation tool. Do note that there are much bigger versions of this if you really want to go nuts.

Mounts-n-things

What: Arms, clamps and other things to attach your gear to your office

Considerations: First off, no two offices are alike so it's unlikely my favorites will work perfectly for you. With that said, there are some general guidelines that I think you should follow. First, your microphone needs to be on a swing arm of some sort so that you can get it right up in front of your mouth without causing you to slouch or sit awkwardly. Then, you will want to be able to micro-adjust your camera for the best possible framing. You should also assume that you'll want to re-frame and mix up your camera angle as you give yourself different looks online. Finally, I detest cheap mounts as they tend to drift and fail just at the wrong moment. An investment here in professional film gear will both keep you sane and looking cool in your WFH selfies. For an inspirational alternative to my favorites, check out the videos from DSLR Shooter whose image adorns the top of this article.

Dean's Favorites:

Rode PSA1 Studio Boom Arm - This is a nice branded pair to your Rode microphone. It is perfectly balanced to keep the mic right where you want it. It comes with a clamp-to-desk and bolt-through desk option.

Shure A26X Extension Tube - If you plan to mount the Rode SM7B to the above boom arm, you should add this tube so the microphone can swing around all the way. If you don't add this, you are limited to the degrees it can swing.

Manfrotto 244RC Variable Friction Magic Arm - This might not be for everyone as it only has a few feet of reach to hold your camera. However, if you have a desk or otherwise to clamp it to, the single-lever tightening feature combined with the burly build makes it a sinch to position your heavy camera and lens at any angle, instantly. Do note there are all sorts of other arms and mount options out there, this is simply my favorite.

Impact Super Clamp - You need to use this clamp with the above magic arm.

Makeup

What: Makeup to cover that oil and shine.

Considerations: Match your skin color and apply just before you go live. Don't forget your shiny head if that is the case.

Dean's Favorites:

Blot Powder - Simple and effective.

Router

What: The internet switch / router / mesh that you use to share your internet with multiple devices.

Considerations: Higher-end video solutions like we have been discussing here are capable of streaming 4K HDR video. Now, services like Zoom and LinkedIn live don't accept such a high definition signal and max out around 720p. Other services might go up to 1080p (HD), and in the future, who knows. Irrespective, when sending video through your router live you want to be well within the processor range of your device. This doesn't have to do just with signal strength as you can have a full bars signal at the same time that your processor on your router is being fully taxed. There are so many variables in a home network that I tend to, you guessed it, error on the side of extra processing power to ensure my router itself is not the issue. As such, I find that routers advertised as gaming routers tend to shine here. Do note this is also true for computers, but that is another article.

Dean's Favorites:

Asus ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 - 10 Gigabit quadruple core process router, how could you go wrong?

Framing

What: How you position your head on the screen.

Considerations: I recently had the privilege to interview Shelly Palmer who is no stranger to properly produced live shows. His direct (and boisterous) feedback to us when we asked him for help was to step forward and be present in the camera shot. He pointed out that if your head is tiny in the shot, and that shot is tiny on your Zoom, and that Zoom is tiny on your audience's computer screen, then you don't exist. NET: Frame your face so people can see the human at the other end of the interweb.

Dean's Favorites:

This is a shot of Paul Estes on a recent episode of Rise of Remote. For some, showing up like this on your next Zoom might surprise your colleagues as they do not expect such a presence. Most people show up as tiny little heads that don't fully leverage the value of video calls. As a side, Paul is using almost every piece of the gear and technique referred to in this article.

Questions & Help

I hope you found this article valuable and perhaps were inspired to up your own WFH game. Please post your questions below and I will incorporate the answers into the main article so as to benefit other readers.

I will be covering this topic on LinkedIn live, just check my LinkedIn profile for the next show. There you can ask questions and even see the gear used in action. Now, get out there and look glamorous!

Hero picture credit: DSLR Video Shooter YouTube Channel