How to feel comfortable on camera

There's a very specific phenomenon that happens when you point a camera at an otherwise perfectly articulate human being. (Internally screaming!).

Suddenly they have no idea what to do with their hands. Their voice has gone up an octave. They've forgotten every interesting thing they've ever known and are now intensely aware of what the left side of their face is doing.

Sound familiar?

Here's the good news: you're probably not bad on camera. You're just incredibly aware that you're on camera.

The harder you try to look natural, the less natural you tend to look. So the goal isn't really to become a better performer. It's to stop performing.

1. Stop trying to be “good on camera”

Think about how you explain something over coffee with a friend. You use your hands, change your tone, pause, laugh and occasionally forget what you were saying halfway through a sentence.

Then someone puts an iPhone in front of you and suddenly:

“Hello. My name is Olivia. Today I would like to discuss…”

Who IS she?

The best version of you on camera isn't a shinier, more professional version of you. It's the version people already enjoy talking to. My top tip, imagine you’re on FaceTime!

2. Talk to one person, not “your audience”

One of the easiest ways to become awkward is imagining hundreds of invisible people watching you.

Instead, choose one.

Think of a client, friend or colleague who might genuinely ask you about whatever you're discussing. Then explain it to them.

Don't think, “How do I explain this to my followers?” Think, “How would I explain this to Amelia over coffee?”

Your language immediately becomes more natural because you're communicating, not broadcasting.

3. Ditch the word-for-word script

Some people can read scripts beautifully and sound completely natural. If you're one of them, congratulations.

For everyone else, scripts often make things worse. You stop thinking about what you're saying and start desperately trying to remember what comes next and acting.

Use bullet points instead. Know your opening, the two or three things you want to communicate and roughly how you're going to finish.

Then talk.

Your sentences might not be perfect and that is a good thing. Humans rarely speak in perfectly edited paragraphs.

4. Unfortunately, you need to watch yourself back

I know. I know. Eww.

Your voice sounds weird. You've discovered a facial expression you've apparently been making your entire life. One eyebrow seems to have been freelancing without your knowledge.

It's normal.

Part of the discomfort is simply unfamiliarity. You're used to experiencing yourself from inside yourself, not watching yourself on a screen.

The answer isn't to conduct a forensic investigation into everything you dislike. It's repetition.

Record. Watch. Repeat.

Eventually your own face becomes considerably less interesting to you, which is exactly where we want to get.

5. Practise when nobody is watching

Take the stakes away. For one week, record one minute every day and post absolutely nothing.

Explain something you know well. Tell a story. Talk about something that annoyed you. Review your coffee. It genuinely doesn't matter.

You're training the behaviour, not creating content.

This is why waiting until you “feel confident enough” rarely works. Confidence usually comes after you've done something repeatedly, not before.

6. Make the environment work for you

Sometimes people aren't uncomfortable being filmed. They're uncomfortable sitting perfectly still in a silent room while somebody points a lens at their face.

So change your environment.

Walk and talk. Sit on a sofa. Film at your desk. Make coffee. Have someone interview you from behind the camera. Do a voiceover. Film a conversation rather than a monologue.

And if you can see yourself on screen while recording, stop staring at yourself. Turn the preview off if you can and look at the lens instead.

Nobody has ever become more relaxed while simultaneously thinking, Why am I doing that with my mouth?

7. Stop editing out all the human bits

The moment after you mess up a sentence and laugh. The “wait, that made absolutely no sense”. The reaction to somebody behind the camera.

Those are often the moments that feel most natural because, briefly, you've forgotten you're filming.

You don't need seventeen bloopers in every video, but don't edit every ounce of humanity out either.

Perfect isn't necessarily engaging.

The secret is incredibly boring

I wish there were a clever trick for becoming confident on camera. Sadly, there isn't.

The answer is annoyingly unsexy: do it more.

Nobody expects to walk into a gym for the first time and immediately lift the heaviest weight in the room, yet somehow we expect ourselves to turn a camera on and possess the ease of somebody who has filmed 3,000 videos.

Being comfortable on camera is a skill, and skills require repetition.

So don't copy somebody else's presenting style. Don't suddenly start shouting “GUYS!” if you've never addressed another human being that way in your life. Don't memorise scripts that make you sound like an AI-generated version of yourself.

Talk about things you care about. Speak to one person. Leave a little imperfection in. Watch yourself back without analysing your face like it's evidence in a criminal investigation.

Then do it again.

Eventually, the camera stops feeling like an audience and starts feeling like a tool.

And that's usually when you become good on it. Not because you've learned how to perform, but because you've finally stopped trying to.

Olivia x