Why Natural Light is Not Good Enough for Your Zoom Call
Natural Light. That ideal lighting we strive for in wedding photos, selfies and most recently, our video calls.
While natural light can be glorious when it hits exactly the right spot, at the right time, in the right way, it can also be very finicky. If we are solely dependent on natural light for our video calls, we may be adding more problems and distractions than we realized.
Here are three things to be wary of when you are using natural light in your video calls and some simple solutions.
The sun’s orbit throughout the day
No, this isn’t a science class, but knowing that the sun may not be where you need it to be by the time your important call arrives, is crucial. Setting up your office in the morning could be an entirely different thing from setting up in the afternoon. Not only that, but many a time one will start a call with great lighting only to finish the call in near darkness.
While this may sound dramatic. It’s not.
Changes in weather = distracting changes in lighting
While the sun’s own movements are to be considered, changing weather can also wreak havoc on an otherwise strong virtual presence.
For one thing, the sun can get covered by intermittent clouds that create an added distraction your audience does not need.
Early on in the pandemic, pre-ring light, I once sat in a video call that started with great, natural light, and ended in a raging storm. Since I had no external source of light, there was little I could do in the moment.
Laser-like cut out images and blinding lights
One final thing to be wary of when dependent on natural light are the often laser-like shadows that can cut across your face/body when light is streaming through a window.
While it does no good to have these light shapes on you to begin with, they become very distracting when they also begin to move. Not only this, but they can become blinding to you and/or to your audience if they are striking a specific angle.
Solutions
Consider an external source of light you can control, like this ring light, or place LED lights around your laptop frame so you always have evenly distributed light on your image
Ensure your windows are facing you, and not behind you
Use curtains/blinds to reduce any irregular lighting shadows created by the moving position of the sun
Natural light can be great. Better to have back up so that you always maintain some control over your lighting. A final reminder, the set up you nailed for most of the pandemic may no longer be correct since Daylight Savings Time. Be sure to spend some time doing a ‘light audit’ - or feel free to reach out to me for some coaching!