Creating wallpapers for Zoom virtual backgrounds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Zoom it is possible to add a virtual background to replace the real one. You do not need to start with a  real green screen behind you. Where do you get backgrounds? Of course, Zoom has a web page about Zoom Virtual Backgrounds with links to a huge collection. I liked some at Wallpapers Wide, but a lot of them are distractingly busy.

 

Toastmasters International has a web page titled Toastmasters Zoom Virtual Background with a small assortment you can download as a zip file. A generic blue one is shown above, as is another which I recolored brown and titled for when I fill the Timer role in my club. That role is discussed in an article from the February 2021 Toastmaster magazine titled The Timer’s Toolkit. Why just blue or brown? The Timer might use green, yellow, and red backgrounds (downloaded at the Timer Zoom Backgrounds web page) in order to signal the speaker, so you should avoid those colors when you are not in that role. (I hold up timing cards rather than switch my background).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where else can you find simple backgrounds? Get out your camera or phone and look around at home. As shown above, I used the asphalt street, the concrete sidewalk, a wooden bookcase, and a shirt. You can use a paint or photo editing program to recolor or adjust brightness and contrast.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You also can look around at a Creative Commons web site like Wikimedia Commons. I found a stone wall in Paris there, cropped it, and turned it gray. I found graph paper as well. I also found references there to an old book by Owen Jones titled The Grammar of Ornament, and downloaded the 1856 folio edition from the Internet Archive. When I perused his 112 color plates, I found a Pompeiian mosaic pattern on page 155 and an Arabian background on page 209. Then I used Photoshop Elements to crop and recolor them blue, and tiled them into wallpaper using Microsoft PowerPoint.