Photo editing tools
A raw photo documents, but an annotated photo explains. Lumos integrates a photo editor that lets you add drawings, arrows, lines, shapes, text, and rotate or crop to highlight what matters.
How to access it
Click a photo in the photo gallery (full screen or in the side panel) to open it in edit mode. The photo opens in large format, surrounded by tools.
The left toolbar
Seven drawing and annotation tools, in a column on the left:
- Select — pick an existing annotation to move or modify it.
- Draw — free-hand stroke, to follow a crack or a path.
- Arrow — to point to a defect, an attention zone, or a reference.
- Line — a straight stroke, to measure or align.
- Rect. — a rectangle, to frame an area to observe.
- Circle — to surround a specific point.
- Text — to label the photo directly with a short caption.
The color palette
In the center of the header, six selectable colors: red, green, blue, yellow, orange, and white. They apply to the active tool. A common convention uses red for safety issues, yellow or orange for attentions, green for compliant elements, and white for neutral labels.
The right toolbar
Four global actions on the photo, at the top right:
- Delete (in red) — remove the photo from the inspection.
- Undo — reverse the last action.
- Rotate — rotate the photo (useful for photos taken upside down or in flipped landscape/portrait).
- Crop — trim the photo to zoom on the relevant area and remove unhelpful context.
The “Add description” field
Below the photo, a text field lets you add a description to the photo. This text differs from the annotations drawn on the photo: it attaches to the photo as metadata and may appear as a caption in the report.
Navigate between photos
At the bottom, thumbnails let you quickly switch from one photo to another without leaving the editor. Useful for processing several photos of the same issue in a row.
Zoom and pan
The “Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move” indication below the photo reminds you of the gestures:
- Mouse wheel or pinch on touchscreen to zoom.
- Click-and-drag to move the view in the zoomed photo.
Valuable when you annotate a fine detail on a high-resolution photo.
Close or save
Two buttons at the bottom of the screen:
- Close — leave the editor without applying current changes.
- Save — apply annotations and close the editor. Annotations save as a layer on top of the original photo (the source photo stays intact).
Best practices
- One annotation per observation, no more. Photos overloaded with annotations lose readability.
- Consistent colors — use the same color for the same observation type across the report.
- Short text — detailed explanation belongs in the narrative, not in the photo. On the photo, a few words suffice.
- Crop before annotating — annotation is clearer on a tightened area than on a panoramic view.