Loom popularized the camera-bubble look, and now every screen-recording tool has one. Most of them default to “round, bottom-right, your face takes up 25% of the screen.” That defaults works for the kind of clip Loom built around — sales videos and async standups. For other content, it’s distracting.
Here’s how to actually think about the overlay.
When you want a camera overlay
Roughly:
- Async standups, status updates — viewers want to see who’s talking. Always include camera.
- Sales videos / personalized outreach — the entire point is rapport. Always camera.
- Tutorial / onboarding videos — sometimes camera. See “decision tree” below.
- Product demos for marketing — usually no camera. Focus on the product.
- Bug repros — never camera. It’s distracting evidence.
- Recorded talks / lectures — yes, but in picture-in-picture, not a bubble.
The decision tree for tutorials
Tutorials are the gray zone. Use camera when:
- The viewer doesn’t know you. A face creates trust.
- The clip is over 90 seconds. Long talking-head audio without a face feels disembodied.
- You’re explaining a concept, not a sequence of clicks.
Skip camera when:
- The clip is mostly “click here, then here, then here.” A bubble adds nothing.
- You’re filming a UI in detail. The bubble covers UI you need to show.
- The viewer is going to scrub through. Faces don’t survive 2x playback.
Where to put the bubble
The Mac default is bottom-right, but it’s worth pausing on:
- Bottom-right — least disruptive in left-to-right reading order. Default for a reason.
- Bottom-left — works if your app’s controls live on the right (e.g., Figma).
- Top-right — works for tutorials where the bottom of the screen is busy (terminals, transcripts).
- Top-left — usually wrong; this is where most apps put their primary nav.
The rule: put the bubble where there’s least UI underneath. Avoid covering buttons, tabs, or content that you’ll point at.
Some tools (Zenguy included) let the bubble auto-shift if your cursor approaches it. So if you start at the bottom-right and need to click a corner button, the bubble briefly hops to the opposite corner. Subtle, but it removes a real annoyance.
Size
Three sane sizes:
- Small (10–12% of screen) — subtle presence, useful for product demos with occasional camera.
- Medium (15–20%) — default for async standups and sales clips. The Loom standard.
- Large (25%+) — only for “talking head with screenshare” style, where the camera is the primary content.
The mistake is always “too big.” When in doubt, scale down 20%.
Shape: circle vs rectangle
- Circle bubble — friendly, social, less precise. Default for sales / async / standups.
- Rectangle (matched aspect ratio) — more professional, less “Loom-y.” Better for tutorials and conference-talk feels.
Both work. Pick one and stay consistent across your library — switching every clip looks unprofessional.
Lighting and framing (10-second checklist)
You don’t need a Sony A7. You do need:
- Window light in front of you, not behind. A backlit shot turns your face into a silhouette.
- Camera at eye level. A laptop on the desk is below your eye line — you’ll be looking down. Stack books under it.
- Neutral background. A bookshelf is fine. A bed with unmade sheets is not.
- Closed mouth, slight half-smile when not talking. Watch yourself in the preview before recording.
Five minutes setting up your camera once will improve every recording for the next year.
Audio matters more than video
If you have to choose, prioritize the mic over the camera quality. Viewers tolerate a 720p webcam. They will not tolerate echoey, hollow audio.
Cheap fixes:
- Use the AirPods/EarPods that came with your phone — better mic than your laptop.
- Sit close — every 6 inches of distance halves the signal-to-noise ratio.
- Carpet, curtains, plants — anything soft kills room echo.
If audio sounds OK on a phone call, it’ll sound OK in a recording.
Avoid: the staring-at-yourself problem
The single most common mistake on camera is looking at your own preview rather than at the camera. This is a near-universal habit. The viewer reads your eyes as “looking off to the side, distracted.”
The fix: minimize the preview, then look at the camera dot on your laptop. If your tool lets you turn off the live preview during recording, do it.
Camera overlays that just work
Zenguy includes a draggable, resizable camera bubble with auto-corner-shift around your cursor. Pick a position, record, done.
A 30-second pre-recording checklist
Before every recording with camera on:
- Webcam green light on, lens uncovered
- Mic input picked, levels visible in preview
- Background neutral, no kitchen / bed visible
- Bubble placed where it won’t cover UI you’ll click
- Live preview minimized so you don’t look at it
- Talking-head test recording (10 sec) to check audio
It takes 30 seconds. It saves you from re-recording.