Train the Trainer Part 3: Recording 101

While we don't want to be looking off-camera, looking right down the barrel of the lens can often look either unnatural or too intimate to the audience. It’s a bit like one of those paintings where the eyes follow you because they are looking straight ahead.

The best place to be looking while recording is just above the lens.

Most DSLRs have a logo positioned helpfully right above the lens, which usually provides a great target for the subject to look at during recording.

Run a couple of tests to find what looks most natural in your setup. 

Reading slides is another aspect of your eye line. If you are going to be reading from a script, cue cards, or your slides while recording, you should position them as close to the lens as possible so that you aren’t looking off-axis from the lens as much while checking them.

Teleprompters were created to solve this issue in broadcasting, but they are rather expensive and unrealistic for our purposes.