Virtual Backgrounds - They Can Close the Distance!

Videoconferencing tools have all added or improved virtual background capability in the last few months. Zoom seemed to be the first to have it 2 years ago though at first it only worked for users sitting in front of a green screen. Then they developed an algorithm in software that could separate out a normal background, not just a chroma-keyed background, though at first it was computational complex enough it only worked on machines with high-spec CPUs. Now it's optimized to work on most CPU configurations, and other videoconferencing tools have added similar functionality. I've been using it for a few months on Google Meet, Zoom, and even Webex.

Using virtual backgrounds presents many opportunities to add a dash of entertainment to the otherwise tedious grind of spending hours per day in virtual meetings. A common stock image of a beach with palm trees adds a nice splash of color and relaxation. Stills from famous movies and TV shows, like a blast door in the Death Star or the bridge from the Enterprise, can spark a competition to see who can find the background everyone likes most. BTW it's not hard to find these images; search for "zoom background images" or similar and you'll find plenty.

One little joke my colleagues and I have is to pick the same backgrounds as each other, so it looks like we're sitting together. This stock background I copied a colleague using a few weeks ago blended together nicely:



It looks like we're sitting on the same deck with the dawn or dusk sky behind us— without wearing our masks or even maintaining 6' distancing! 😨

I Love Lamp! Part 2

Several weeks ago I tried using a small ring lamp on my desktop to improve my teleconferencing. The result was both surprising and unsurprising. The unsurprising part was that my camera video looked way better with the fill light in my face. The surprising part was that having the lamp in my face bothered me way less than I expected. "I love lamp!" I declared.

What's the difference? Here's a side-by-side comparison with and without a fill light:



Both pics are screen grabs from one of the videoconferencing tools I use regularly. On the left I'm using the ring lamp on my desk in addition to room lighting and natural daylight; on the right, room lighting and natural daylight only.

The left pic above is with my new ring light. The experiment I wrote about back in January was with a task lamp I borrowed from Hawk. She wanted it back for her crafting workbench. So I bought one for myself on Amazon. Here's what the setup looks like now at my work desk:



This lamp uses LED lighting, which is nice because it's very adjustable compared to fluorescent lighting. It offers 4 brightness settings and 3 color temperatures. In the webcam pic I've got it at max brightness, which is pretty bright but not painfully so, and a medium color temperature, which I estimate is about 4,000° K. Oh, and the lamp has a gooseneck stem so the height and angle are very adjustable. It cost me only $25.