How To Edit A Photo: Marking It Up And Cropping
Exterio's photo editor lets you mark up job photos so the point you're making is obvious — circling damaged flashing, arrowing to a soft spot, labeling an area for the crew. This is what turns a photo into documentation.
When you'd use it
- Showing a homeowner exactly what you found on their roof
- Documenting damage for an insurance supplement
- Marking a specific area so the crew knows where to work
- Cropping a wide shot down to the detail that matters
Available markup tools
| Tool | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Circle | Draw attention to an area |
| Text overlay | Label what something is |
| Arrow | Point at a specific spot |
| Highlight | Emphasize a region |
| Crop to Area | Trim the photo down to what matters |
| Adjust | Modify the image |
Marking up a photo
- Go to the Photos tab on the project.
- Click the button on the photo you want to edit, then select Edit Markup.
To crop:
- Click Crop to Area (hover over the buttons to see labels).
- Zoom in on the section you want to keep.
- Click Apply Crop.
To draw:
- Click the pencil.
- Set your line thickness — go thick so the mark reads clearly.
- Choose a color that stands out against the photo.
- Draw on the photo.
When you're done:
- Click Save.
The photo is ready to use.
Tips and gotchas
-
Pick a color that fights the photo. Roofs are gray, brown, and black. A thin dark line disappears into shingle granules. Bright green, red, or yellow with a thick line is what a homeowner actually sees on their phone screen.
-
Crop before you mark up. Cropping after you've drawn can cut off part of your markup. Trim to the area first, then annotate.
-
One point per photo. A photo with six circles on it communicates nothing. If you're documenting six issues, that's six marked-up photos — and it's far more persuasive to a homeowner or an adjuster.
-
Use text overlay for anything an outsider won't recognize. You know it's step flashing. The homeowner doesn't, and neither does the adjuster reviewing forty claims that week. Circle it and label it.
-
Markup is what makes a supplement stick. An unmarked photo of a roof is a photo of a roof. A cropped, circled, labeled photo showing the specific damaged component is evidence. This is the difference between an approved supplement and a denied one.
-
Keep an unedited original. If you need to prove what the raw photo looked like, an annotated version isn't the same thing.