Glasses Glare on Video- How do we Avoid it?

When I first started working with companies and entrepreneurs, my biggest concerns were making sure the video quality was good, the audio sounded crisp, and the overall product looked great. As the years went on, I learned that some of my clients had some concerns that didn’t even cross my mind. Some of my clients were worried about wearing their glasses on camera. Why? Because they didn’t want the camera to catch a glare on their glasses.

What is glasses glare?

Glasses glare is when a window or light reflects off of someone’s glasses, therefore making it difficult or distracting to see their eyes. This effect normally isn’t a big deal in day to day life, but when it comes time for a photo or video, it’s a problem. Since the viewer is watching solely from the perspective of the camera, they are fixed into that angle. If that angle catches the glare from your glasses, then they viewer has no choice but to see it.

The problem?

As humans, we communicate with our voices and our body language. Body language is mainly expressed with our arms, our head, and our eyes. You’ve probably heard the phrase “the eyes are the window to your soul” before, and it couldn’t be more true. When we communicate with someone, either in person or through video, we mainly look at their eyes. That’s how we establish connection with someone.

So what happens when we can’t see their eyes because of glasses glare? You guessed it. It’s harder to establish that connection. Not impossible, of course, it’s just much more difficult. In person, you could probably just shift to a different angle, and that would solve the glare issue. But on video, you can’t control how the light hits the person you’re talking to. So if they have a glare on their glasses, then they just made it harder on you to connect with them.

How do we avoid glasses glare?

If you wear glasses, then there are a couple of tricks you can use to avoid glasses glare when you’re on a video call. The main trick is to not have any light sources like windows, lamps, or even your computer screen (you could dim your screen down as well) directly in front of you. Instead, have your light source off to the side where it’s still lighting up your face. If you had high ceilings, you could also have your light source a little higher up so that your glasses don’t make line-of-sight contact with it.

A little bonus trick! When you buy your next pair of glasses, make sure they have anti-reflective coating on them. That will also help cut down on some glare!

I actually talk more about this with NY Times best selling author, Paula Rizzo, on her show, The Inside Scoop. She is a media coach, and a lot of her clients ask her about glasses glare all the time! So I did a little live demo on her show.

Wrap up

To put it plainly, if you don’t wear glasses, then you don’t ever need to worry about this. If you do wear glasses, then you’ll have to play around with some of your lighting to see what gets you the best results. And at the end of the day, you can only avoid glasses glare so much. So don’t worry if a little creeps in there from time to time. As long as you do your best to minimize the glare, you will still be able to make great connections on video calls.

Need some customized help with getting rid of glasses glare? Reach out to me to see how I can help!