Eye contact with a lens: arrows, eyeline and the window

By Alastair Greener, presenter of Present Yourself in a Minute · Updated 5 November 2026

When you look at the lens, the viewer feels you are speaking to them. When you look at the picture of yourself, or at a monitor to the side, they feel you are looking elsewhere. Eye contact on camera is a matter of placing the lens, your eyes and the other people on screen in the same small area, and then holding them there.

Look straight down the lens

For the parts of your talk where you speak to the viewer, look at the lens. It will feel wrong for the first minute, because you cannot see the reaction you are used to. Keep your eyes on the lens for a full sentence before you glance away, and return to it at the end of the sentence.

The arrows technique

Put two small marks, one on each side of the lens, at the height of your eyes. Present Yourself's advice is to set arrows either side of the camera so you can keep your eyeline level. When your eyes drift to the notes or the screen, the marks pull them back to the lens. Use marks that are easy to see but small enough that the viewer does not notice them on the picture.

Put the window under the camera

On a video call, the window that shows the other person is usually away from the webcam, so you end up looking at the screen rather than the lens. Shrink the call window and drag it directly under the webcam. Move the thumbnails of the other people there too. Put the chat box near the camera as well, so you do not have to look far to read it.

Keep your eyes level

Eyes level with the lens looks natural. A camera set too low makes you look up, and a camera set too high makes you look down. If you are sitting, put the camera at eye height. If you are standing, make sure the lens is at your eye line, not at your waist.

Check it on playback

1. Record about thirty seconds of you talking to the lens.
2. Watch it back with the sound off, and note how often your eyes move to the side.
3. Record again with the arrows or the window in place, and compare.

Watching your own eyes is uncomfortable at first, but it is the only way to see what the viewer sees.

Common mistakes

• Looking at your own picture. The self-view window pulls your eyes off the lens. Hide it if your software allows.
• Reading from notes with your eyes down. Notes at the lens height, or a guide to reading an autocue, keep the eyes up.
• Looking at the wrong spot. On a laptop the webcam is at the top of the screen. Look at it, not at the middle of the window.
• Changing position mid-talk. Pick a seat and a framing, and stay in it. Sitting or standing changes the eyeline, so decide before you record.

If you want to practise against a real lens with an autocue, the Green Space is hired from £40 an hour +VAT. The framing guide covers how much head and shoulder to leave in shot.

Related guides

• Framing yourself on camera: headroom and distance
• Being 10% more than you on camera, 20% on stage
• Facial expression on camera
• How to read an autocue without looking like you're reading
• Sit or stand for camera?
• All guides and tools

The picture at the top of this page is an illustration, not a photograph of a client or a real job.