Here's How To Personalize Zoom Backgrounds With Your Own Photos

Zoom makes conference calls easier with its simple interface and swift group chat capabilities. One of the best features, though, is the ability to swap out your background for a virtual one. While a lot of users are uploading images from royalty-free websites, you can use your own photos as backgrounds as well. Here's how to make your own Zoom backgrounds to customize your video calls in a few simple steps.

The odds are, you've seen a ton of different virtual backgrounds flooding the internet. If you haven't used the feature yet, you'll need to start by downloading Zoom. If you have Zoom already, check that your PC or Mac has Zoom version 4.6.0 installed. If you're using your iPhone or iPad, you'll need to have an iPhone 8 or later or a fifth-generation iPad or later, otherwise, the virtual background feature isn't compatible.

While Zoom recommends using a green screen or a blank white wall for your backdrop, you can still cover up just about any environment with a virtual background. The best images for backgrounds are high-res ones like you can find via a royalty-free image service, such as Pixabay, Unsplash, or Pexels. However, you can easily upload your own photos for your Zoom background and get a satisfying result.

Once you created an account and signed into Zoom, you can change your virtual background with a couple of easy steps. The steps to uploading your own photo don't differ from uploading royalty-free images:

1. Find a photo you want to use for your Zoom background. Since you're using your own photo, you can choose whatever you fancy.
2. Log into Zoom and go to Settings.
3. Click the Virtual Background Tab.
4. Select the plus sign (+)

Once you've uploaded your photo as a virtual background, the image will stay in your Zoom library for future use. You can always remove the photos there by clicking on the "X" to delete them from your options.

If you're already in a meeting, you can still change your virtual background during the call, by selecting the up arrow (^) next to the stop video button and clicking on the option that says "Choose Virtual Background."

I'm partial to my pics of pretty sunsets or a favorite concert, but the options for using your own photos are endless.

If you feel like jazzing up your photos before uploading them to Zoom, you can use free photo editors online to get the look you're going for.