On-Camera Guide
A CEO flies to a landmark for the shot. The lighting's fine, the backdrop is perfect, and the photo still doesn't work - because nobody prepped the one thing that actually matters: how he looks on camera. Angle, wardrobe, posture, light. None of it is complicated. All of it gets skipped.
Twenty years of deciding which stories were worth telling — first as a broadcast journalist, then producing executive communications inside a Fortune 10 company — taught me that how someone looks on camera isn't a technical detail. It's part of whether people believe what they're saying. These are the same checks I run before any executive sits down in front of a camera.
— Fred Veinfurt, Communications Strategist, CommsCheck
Use this before anything that matters: a keynote, an earnings call, a media interview, a town hall recording.
Quick take
The bare minimum — scale up with more lights, modifiers, or angles as your setup allows.
Light comes first
Face toward your light source, not away from it - a window behind you turns you into a silhouette. Avoid direct overhead office lighting, which casts shadows under the eyes. Soft, even light from in front or slightly above eye level is the most forgiving for everyone, regardless of skin tone or age.
Find your angle
Set the camera at eye level or just above. A lens looking up your nose reads as unflattering and, subconsciously, less credible. A lens looking down on you reads as small. Neither is what you want from a leader. Sit or stand close enough that your shoulders fill the frame without your head brushing the top.
Dress for the lens, not the room
Solid colors hold up better than fine stripes or small patterns, which can shimmer or strobe on video. Avoid pure white (it blows out under studio light) and pure black (it swallows detail). Mid-tones - navy, deep green, burgundy - read best. Fit matters more than fashion: a jacket that pulls across the shoulders will show it every time the camera cuts wide.
Posture is a message
Sit slightly forward, not deep in the chair. Keep both feet on the floor. Rest your hands somewhere visible and relaxed instead of out of frame - hidden hands read as tense, even when you're not. Square your shoulders slightly toward the camera rather than sitting flat-on, which tends to look stiffer on screen than it feels in person.
Presence is what actually reads
Breathe before you answer instead of rushing into it. A short pause reads as confidence, not hesitation. Speak to the person, not the lens, unless you're specifically told to look at camera. The audience can tell the difference between someone reciting a message and someone who believes it.
Want more than tips?
Executive Communications gives your leadership team a structured, human-reviewed assessment of message clarity, confidence, credibility, and pressure handling - before the camera turns on for real.