Conversation tips
How to Make Eye Contact on Video Calls
Here's how to make eye contact on video calls: look at the camera lens when you greet someone or make a point, look at their face on screen while you listen, and move their video as close to the camera as you can so the gap between the two is small. You can't look at both at once, so you switch on purpose.
Below: why your eyes look lowered on video, a moment-by-moment guide to camera versus screen, the lens-look technique, and quick setups for a desktop, laptop and phone.
Why video makes you look like you're looking down
In person, you look at someone's eyes and they see you looking at them. On video, the camera sits above the screen, but their eyes are on the screen. When you look at their eyes, your gaze lands below the lens, so on their end you seem to be looking at their chin or your keyboard.
How noticeable it is depends on two distances: how far their face is from the lens on your screen, and how far you sit from the screen. With their eyes about 4 inches (10 cm) below the lens and you sitting about 2 feet (60 cm) away, your gaze is off by roughly 9 or 10 degrees, which is enough to read as looking down. Halve the gap or sit farther back and the angle shrinks.
Both sides have the same problem, so the other person probably seems to look slightly down at you too. It's not disinterest. It's geometry.
Look at the camera or the screen? It depends on the moment
Staring at the lens for a whole conversation is exhausting, and you'd miss every reaction. Use the camera for the moments that count.
| Moment | Where to look | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Saying hello | The lens | Your first impression reads as direct and warm |
| Asking a question or making a point | The lens | It lands as if you're speaking to them, not past them |
| The punchline of a story | The lens | Eye contact sells the payoff |
| Listening | Their face on screen | You need to see their reactions |
| Thinking | Wherever feels natural, often up or to the side | Looking away to think is normal in person too |
| Reading the text chat | Down, and say so | "Reading your message" stops them guessing |
A simple habit: look at the lens when you start talking and when you finish a thought, and at their face in between.
The lens-look technique for eye contact on webcam
- Find the lens. On many laptops it's a tiny dot in the top edge of the screen. Put a small arrow or dot sticker beside it, not over it, so your eyes find it fast.
- Give it a face. Some people stick a small smiley or photo next to the camera so looking there feels like looking at someone.
- Look for a few seconds at a time. Two to four seconds at the lens while you speak, then back to their face. Long, unbroken lens-staring feels intense on the other end.
- Soften your eyes. Blink normally and keep your face relaxed. Wide, fixed eyes look like a staring contest.
- Check how it looks. Record a 20-second clip with your device's camera app, first talking to the lens, then talking to the screen. The difference is obvious once you see it.
Your own preview is mirrored and sits off to one side, so watching yourself pulls your eyes away from both the lens and your partner. Check your setup, then ignore it.
Desktop and laptop setup: bring their eyes up to the lens
The single best fix is putting your partner's face right under the camera.
- Raise the camera to eye level. Stack books under a laptop so you look straight across, not down. Our guide to the best camera angle for video calls has setups for every device.
- Move the video to the top of the screen. Drag or resize the browser window so the video area sits just below the camera, not in the middle of the screen.
- Narrow the window on a wide screen. In a wide browser window, Omlet shows your partner's video on the left and your own preview on the right, which puts their face below and to the left of a centered webcam. Make the window narrower and Omlet switches to a layout with your partner's video across the top and your preview in a small corner. Center that window under the camera.
- Use the screen the camera is on. With two monitors, keep the video on the screen your webcam sits on, as close to the camera as possible.
- Sit back a little. About an arm's length from the screen makes the angle smaller and shows more of your expressions.
Phone setup: portrait, propped and at arm's length
Phones have an advantage: the front camera sits just above the screen, so the gap is small. In Omlet's phone layout, your partner's video fills the top part of the screen, close to the camera.
- Hold it in portrait. On most phones, turning sideways moves the front camera to the left or right edge, so you seem to look off to the side. Portrait keeps the camera above their face.
- Prop it at eye level. A phone held low in your hand looks up at you and makes your gaze drop even further. Lean it against books or a mug instead.
- Keep it at arm's length. The farther away the phone, the smaller the angle between the lens and their eyes.
- Glance at the top edge when you talk. Since the lens is so close, a tiny upward shift is all it takes.
A propped phone with your partner's face filling the screen is about as close to a real face-to-face conversation as video gets; see face-to-face chat with strangers for how that works on Omlet.
Natural glances: how not to stare
Good eye contact on video works much like it does in person: frequent, not constant. People who never look away seem intense, and people who never look at the lens seem distant.
- Look away while you think, then come back to the lens when you have your answer.
- Nod and react with your face while you watch theirs; that matters more than exactly where your pupils point.
- If you feel self-conscious, start with just the hello and the goodbye at the lens, and add more as it gets easier.
- Don't worry if they rarely look at their camera. Most people don't, and it isn't a sign they're uninterested.
Eye contact norms also vary by culture; in some places, looking away more is a sign of respect. Our guide to reading body language on video calls covers these differences. If being on camera itself makes you tense, how to be less awkward on camera can help, and when you'd rather type, here's how to start a text conversation with a stranger.
Eye contact Zoom tips you can try on your next chat
These work in any video app, from work meetings to random chat. Run through them once and they'll start to feel automatic:
- Raise your camera, move or narrow the window, and put a sticker by the lens.
- Start a random video chat and say hello to the lens, not the screen.
- Listen to their first answer while watching their face.
- Ask your next question to the lens.
- Say goodbye to the lens, press Next and do it again.
After three or four chats, switching between the lens and the screen stops feeling like a technique and starts feeling like normal conversation.