Can you help me look less ugly in Teams calls?

[WaterWall22]

In real life I'm a pretty average looking middle-aged woman. Lots of my work is on Teams as I work for large national company.
Few times now when I've met people first time in person they've said something along the lines of: 'You look nice?!' in a really surprised way. One woman actually said 'gosh, you look so much nicer and younger in person!'
I've always thought myself that I do look terrible on Teams, but others clearly think so too!
So what do you do to look nice on Teams? I have to wear a headset due to confidentiality so hair is always flat which doesn't help..

I think Teams is great, and I feel I have very open and honest relationships with loads of colleagues who I rarely see other than through Teams. People talk about 'in person' interaction being better, but I feel that people have been willing to be more vulnerable and open on Teams calls than they actually would in an office - if one of my team feels like crying when talking to me, they don't need to worry about walking out of a glass box, through an open plan office, with the evidence of their distress obvious to everyone - it's just between me and them. I completely believe you can have proper relationships on Teams, and be very authentic.

I don't, however, believe it picks up your full 'vitality'. So maybe, OP, the problem is not with the lighting, or your make up, or your camera angle - maybe you just carry a lot of energy 'in person', that doesn't feed through in full on calls.

I don't think I've ever seen that - is it on the main screen?

Ring light, you can get little clip on ones. I also top up my make up before a call as you can barely see it in the screen

@SirChenjins three dots> Settings > Devices.

Scroll down to Video Settings.

That's where it is in mine anyway

Brilliant, thanks - will give that a try 😊

following with interest as I have a small claims hearing next week and they’ve said teams. I’ve only used zoom and the filters are bloody amazing on that

Video settings. You can play with the blur settings. Also you can adjust the colours.

😂Hqzarding a guess you have to attend some very loooong meetings!

I just use the soft focus setting.

This made me laugh.

Im another who feels I look like a potato on teams. I’ve taken to hiding myself (my video) when I’m on calls, because it stops me looking at myself. So everyone can see me, but I can’t see myself.

I do use the filter sometimes, but might buy a ring light too.

Also it's in the choice of colours, I had my colours done professionally . Either block colours or stripes. Patterns are meh on teams.

You need a ring light that you put in front of yourself, so it will illuminate you. I don't have a suggestion but it is what people use. I know someone who used it at work and she looked lovely on teams (and IRL too).

As someone who always wears makeup if I’m due to have a ‘on camera’ Teams call, even if that is just a light touch bit of skin tint, blush, brow gel, mascara and tinted lip balm, I’ve found the only thing that stops me looking pale, jowly and with under eye bags the size of Mary Poppins’ carpet bag is good lighting and a raised angle for my laptop/camera.

I will have to explore the soft focus setting as the blur setting sadly only works on the background and not on my exhausted looking mush! 😂

Don’t ever go on camera in daylight! Close your curtains and put on some lighting with a warm, not too bright bulb. Powder your face with pressed powder and a powder puff, it’s really skin smoothing! A bit of lipstick works wonders too.

I use this picture of Margaret Qualley which I hold up in front of my face... I've made a slit in the mouth so I can occasionally poke a bit of my tongue out (just in case the meeting gets boring, as they do).

A ring light maybe

Use a ring light and put the filter on, and you'll be gorgeous.

Angle of the camera is important, I find if I use my laptop it looks like I have a double chin while if I use the one on top of my display monitor then it is higher looking down and makes me look thinner as it is a better angle! 😂

I recently started using pressed powder and a matte spray on top and the effect is really good! Skin looks amazing! I need to improve my make up skills. 😁

Lighting - where is your screen positioned in relation to the natural light source in the room?

Gorgeous might be pushing it. 😂 Some brilliant tips on this thread though. Thank you all. Will definitely try to reposition my laptop higher and play with the lights too when WFH. Have to find a well-positioned desk for the office!

Just be careful with the blur filter. Some of my colleagues have blurred so much it's distracting, especially when they move and the filter doesn't quite keep up.

@WaterWall22 do you have a 2nd screen? I attached my camera to this as opposed to the laptop camera, slightly higher. Better fitting clothes too.

Ill invest in a ring light when next in IKEA though.

lol 😂 at the ‘surprised potato’ 😂😂

It's just Teams i look like a fat gap toothed gargoyle. In real life I look normal.

It just excentuates all those slight imperfections, the gap in my front teeth which in real life is barely noticeable, my round face looks fat on Teams. Even photos don't make me look that bad.

And don't get me started on when it's being recorded and I hear myself back. I end up never wanting to talk again.