A portable computing device equipped with at least one image capture device and/or a light source captures an image (or a video) of a portion of a surface of interest having the damage that is exposed to a light from the light source. The portable computing device converts the image to an output image that highlights the damage. If the damage is a dent, the image is converted to a false color image using a saliency algorithm. If the damage is a scratch, the image is converted to a colorspace stretched image using color stretching algorithms. The size of the damage is determined by capturing an image of a ruler placed adjacent to the damage and the portion of surface of interest having the damage. The ruler is then removed from the image. The resulting image is converted to the output image. The ruler is added to the output image.