Soft, front-facing light gives the best results.
Get this right first
Place a window, lamp or soft light in front of you, or slightly to one side. Avoid bright windows or strong lights directly behind you — the camera exposes for the bright background and your face goes dark.
Why lighting matters more than settings
Autofocus and exposure both work better with even light on your face. Most complaints about a soft or noisy image are a lighting problem rather than a camera one, and fixing the light fixes the image without touching a setting.
Three things that make the biggest difference
- Light from the front, not above. Ceiling lights cast shadows into your eye sockets. Anything at face height beats anything overhead.
- Soft, not bright. A lamp bounced off a wall or through a diffuser flatters far more than a bare bulb pointed at you, which blows out highlights no setting can recover.
- One colour of light. Daylight from a window plus a warm desk lamp confuses automatic white balance and makes skin tones look off. Pick one.
If your room needs more light
An optional iContact light mounts directly above the camera for a compact, front-facing setup that does not need a stand or extra desk space.
Fine-tuning
Once your lighting is right, iContact Control can adjust exposure, brightness and white balance if you want to go further. See balancing brightness and exposure.