[Terretta]

70 degree field of view, equivalent to perhaps 28mm, gives you prominent nose and mouse-face shaped bone structure

to look pro, you want maybe 35 degree field of view, equivalent to 70mm or more

see: https://s.studiobinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Focal-...

there's a reason studio newscasters have flat faces, while the people they interview via webex or zoom look like giant nosed clowns, it's the focal length

if you can't get a narrow field of view, you can pretend you have a "crop sensor" by getting a true 4K, cropping it down to 1080p since web conf software aren't sending more than that anyway, and positioning yourself farther from it.

this farther position also helps your eyes seem to be looking more directly at the lens.

[Austizzle]

Former film student here, this is all correct but I wanted to rephrase part of it-

Most of the time, you don't need to worry about focal length ( especially because it's so complicated when you're trying to talk about different sensor sizes)

The real measurement here is distance from the camera. The further you are physically from the camera, the flatter things look. Now, when you're further away, you obviously need to zoom in to make your head fill the frame, but it's way easier to think about it in terms of distance first, and then find a webcam/lens/crop that works.

I use a pro camera as a webcam (with a cheap HDMI/USB stick), and I have it mounted on my desk around 3/4 feet from my face. That seems to work well for my face shape.

[Terretta]

Yes! As a film student you'll recognize, "zoom with your feet". Or maybe by film you meant moving pictures, or "movies" for short (ahem).

So, to underline the "position yourself farther from it" part of my post where to go from a wide 4K to a cropped 4K the important part was moving back, and underline the distance from the camera part of your post, readers may enjoy this movie on the "dolly zoom":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tod2qZnKZEQ

The face distortion bit starts about 1m15s in.

TL;DR: To fix your face, zoom out with your feet! Then zoom in with your lens, or crop back in, to frame.

(All that said, if you're shooting faces, aka a portrait, consider a "portrait lens", and for this you're back in focal length talk. Pick 85mm focal length or longer, though I'm partial to 105mm up to 135mm myself.)

[j45]

Very informative, thank you! Almost makes me wish for a webcam overlay to achieve this.