Play back almost any first webcam recording and you'll see the same thing: a person talking to a spot a few inches below the viewer's chin. They were looking at their own face in the preview, or at notes, or at the middle of the laptop screen. The camera was somewhere else.

Fixing that is less about willpower and more about deciding who you're talking to, then arranging the screen so the easy place to look is also the right one.

The short answer for each situation

  • Recording yourself for viewers Tutorials, YouTube videos, course lessons, announcements. The lens is your audience, so it's your main target.
  • Live video call Zoom, Teams or Meet with real people. Watch their faces to follow the conversation, and look at the lens when you greet them or make your main point.
  • Interview on camera Talk to the interviewer, not the lens, unless the producer asks for a direct-to-camera answer.
  • Presenting slides on webcam Glance at the slide to orient yourself, then deliver the point to the lens.

What the viewer sees when you miss the lens

To a viewer, the lens is your eyes meeting theirs. Look an inch to the side and it's subtle. Look at a window on a second monitor and it's obvious you're paying attention to something else.

Direction matters as much as distance. In Milton Chen's CHI 2002 study on videoconferencing, people were more forgiving of a gaze that fell slightly below their eyes than of one that drifted above or off to either side. That is one reason text placed just under the camera tends to hold up better than text beside it.

Raise the lens to eye height first

Most eye-line trouble starts with camera height. A camera below your eyes makes you look down at the viewer; one far above makes you tilt your chin up. Get the lens roughly level with your eyes before worrying about anything else.

Laptop webcam

Put the laptop on a stand or a stack of books until the webcam is at eye level. Use an external keyboard if you need to type. The lens is now at the top center of the screen, which is where anything you need to read should go.

Phone

Find the actual front camera; on some phones it sits off-center or inside a cutout. Mount the phone at eye height in the orientation you'll publish, because turning it from portrait to landscape moves the lens to a different edge.

External camera

Set it at eye level on a tripod, then bring your reading screen as close to the lens as your framing allows. If you need to sit far back, a beamsplitter rig lets you read through glass directly in front of the lens.

Where to put your script or notes

If you need words in front of you, the rule is simple: the closer they sit to the lens, the less anyone can tell. Keep only a few short lines visible, in a narrow column right under the camera. A wide block of text in the middle of the screen makes your eyes travel across each line, and the camera catches every sweep.

TeleprompterOnline's Notch mode does this for you on a laptop: it shrinks the script into a narrow reading strip under the webcam, and you record in the same browser tab. For other layouts, see teleprompter setup without hardware, and for delivery once the text is in place, how to read a teleprompter naturally.

Bullet notes follow the same rule. Put them on a sticky note right beside the lens, not on a pad on the desk.

Look at the lens without staring

Unbroken lens contact looks strange. People talking face to face blink, look away to remember something, and come back. Do the same on camera: hold the lens for the sentences that matter, let your eyes move when you're thinking, and return before the next point.

  • Land on the lens for your opening line, your main claim and your call to action.
  • A glance away while you think or point at something reads as natural, as long as you come back.
  • Keep your head facing the camera; move your eyes, not your whole face, when you check notes.
  • Picture one specific person behind the lens, such as a colleague or a regular viewer.

Watch for the habits that quietly drag your eyes off target. Checking your own preview between sentences is the most common. A second monitor with notes off to one side is next, because it turns your whole head. The third is glancing at the record timer to see how long you've been talking. Shrink or hide the preview, move notes under the lens, and let the scroll pace you instead of the clock.

That last tip echoes the University of Michigan's advice on getting comfortable on screen, which suggests treating the camera as a person and even practicing with someone standing behind it.

On Zoom, Teams or Meet calls

Calls are a two-way conversation, so the priorities flip. You need to see reactions, which means looking at faces most of the time. The trick is to make the faces sit near the camera.

  • Drag the video window up so the speaker's face is just under the webcam.
  • Hide or shrink your self-view; it's the biggest single pull on your eyes.
  • Shift to the lens when you say hello, make your key point, or ask the group a question.
  • When you need to read a shared doc, say so and read it. Pretending to hold eye contact while squinting at a side window looks worse.

Interviews and multi-camera shoots

In a sit-down interview, your conversation partner is the interviewer. Answering them gives the edit a natural, slightly off-axis look that viewers expect from the format. Switching to the lens mid-answer usually looks like a mistake.

Before the first question, ask: "Should I talk to you or to the camera?" On a two-camera shoot, also ask which camera is the direct-address one, so you don't deliver your best line to the wide shot.

Check your eye line in 20 seconds

You can't judge your gaze while you're recording. Check it on playback instead, any time you change device, room or framing.

  • Record one sentence three times Once looking at the lens, once at the center of the screen, once at wherever your notes or script sit.
  • Watch at viewer size Play the clips on a phone, not full screen on a monitor. Small offsets that look huge up close often disappear.
  • Pick the closest match If the script clip looks almost like the lens clip, your setup works. If not, move the text closer to the camera and record again.

If someone else is around, show them the clips and ask which one feels like you're talking to them. Their first answer is usually right.

Frequently asked questions

Why do I look like I'm looking down in my laptop videos?

Because the webcam sits above the screen and you're looking at the screen, usually at your own face. Raise the laptop to eye height and keep anything you need to read right under the webcam.

Is it rude not to look at the camera on a video call?

No. Looking at people's faces is normal and helps you follow the conversation. Add short lens moments when you want to speak directly to the group.

Where should I look while I'm listening?

At the speaker's video tile. Nodding and reacting to their face looks engaged; staring at the lens while someone else talks can look oddly detached.

Can I read a script and still keep eye contact?

Yes, if the lines you're reading sit right under the lens in a narrow column. Check it with a short test recording at the size viewers will watch.

Keep going

About this guide

TeleprompterOnline publishes this guide and builds the teleprompter it mentions. Outside research is linked where cited. How eye contact reads on camera varies with framing, device and format, so trust your own test recording over any rule.