How to use a virtual background when in Zoom

One great Zoom feature is the ability to place a virtual background for your meetings and events. This is an opportunity for you to provide a really professional-looking background that portrays the best image of you and your business. When you sign up for a Zoom account there are a number of virtual backgrounds that you can choose from to replace your existing backgrounds. These tend to be images of oceans, cityscapes, and nature which are OK but you can do better than this.

Image or Video

With the Zoom virtual background feature, you can choose an image or a video as the background to your Zoom events. We do not recommend the use of video as this can be really distracting for your audience. To get the best results from virtual backgrounds, Zoom recommends that you use a green screen and that your lighting is uniform. This allows Zoom to identify the difference between the background and you. We recommend that you create your own virtual backgrounds that include the branding of your business. It is a good idea to add your logo to your background as well as your name and website address. You need to create an image that reflects your camera type. So if you are shooting in 16:9 then the minimum image size should be 1280 by 720 pixels.

Best Setup for a Virtual Background

To get the best results from virtual backgrounds it is recommended that you use a green screen (or another solid color background). You can get these green screen backgrounds online pretty cheaply. The quality of your background depends on the quality of your camera. It also depends on the lighting in the room you are using for your Zoom event. You can get inexpensive ring lighting from Amazon that will improve things significantly for you. One important tip when setting up your virtual background is not to wear clothes that are the same color as your background. This will make it a lot harder for Zoom to identify you from the background and it will look really weird.

Enabling Virtual Backgrounds

You will need to enable virtual backgrounds in your Zoom account first. Log in to your Zoom web portal as an administrator and then select “Account Settings”. Find the option “Virtual Background” under the “Meeting” tab and then enable the setting. You can setup the virtual background feature on a group or user basis and also for Zoom rooms. The process is the same for all of these. Go into the settings for the group or user and make sure that the virtual backgrounds feature is enabled.

Using the Virtual Background Feature

You will need to install the Zoom client on your desktop or mobile device to use virtual backgrounds. For a desktop, you just need to click on your profile image and then select “Settings”. If you have the virtual background enabled in your web portal then you will see the option to use a virtual background here. You will be asked to choose if you have a green screen in place or not. It is not essential to use a green screen but it does produce the best results. If you are using a green screen then select the right color. If you have added your own virtual background image then select this now. Now you are all set and you can save your settings.