How to add images to your video in FocuSee

You want to drop a screenshot, a diagram, or a logo onto a specific moment of your FocuSee recording - have it appear while you explain something, then disappear before the next step. So you go into the editor looking for an “add image” option on the timeline, and you cannot find one.

Here is the straight answer on where FocuSee stands today, the one thing it can do with images, the workaround, and how timed image overlays work in Tight Studio.

Can you add images to a video in FocuSee?

Not as a timeline overlay. FocuSee’s annotation tools are explicitly limited to text and shapes - text (basic and artistic), arrows, lines, and rectangles, plus mask effects (focusee.imobie.com/guide/annotations.htm). There is no documented way to place an image, screenshot, or photo onto the timeline as a clip or an overlay that appears at one moment and leaves at another. Inserting b-roll - a separate image or video laid over the recording for a few seconds - is not part of the editor.

The one thing FocuSee does with an image is a watermark: you can upload a PNG, JPG, or SVG and it stays on screen for the whole video with adjustable position, size, and opacity (focusee.imobie.com/guide/add-watermark.htm). That is genuinely useful for a persistent brand mark, but it is one image, always on, for the entire recording. It is not a timed overlay you place at 0:42 and remove at 0:48, and it is not b-roll. Timed image overlays appear nowhere in FocuSee’s guide, feature pages, or changelog (latest v2.3.0, April 2026 - focusee-voice.imobie.com/changelog). Importing media into a project is a known want on FocuSee’s own feature hub: “Can add media files” has 93 votes and is Under Review, and the broader “Add Audio, Video, Transitions, Titles” request has 283 votes. FocuSee is a solid auto-zoom recorder from a small team focused on the capture-and-zoom loop; placed images simply are not in scope today. You can add your vote on their roadmap at focusee-voice.imobie.com/roadmap.

The workaround in FocuSee

Since there is no image layer on the timeline, the image has to be added outside FocuSee:

1. Finish the recording in FocuSee - zoom, cursor, captions, the parts it is good at.
2. Export the MP4.
3. Open it in a second editor that supports image overlays - iMovie, CapCut, Descript, or Clipchamp all do.
4. Drop each image onto a timeline track, position it on screen, and set when it appears and disappears.
5. Re-export from the second tool.

It works, but the cost is the usual two-tool tax: a second app and timeline to maintain, a re-encode of an already-encoded video, and a manual re-place of every image if you later trim or re-order anything in FocuSee. For a single static brand mark, FocuSee’s watermark avoids that round trip - but for anything timed, or for b-roll, you are in the second editor.

How to add image overlays with Tight Studio instead

If timed images are part of the finished video, it helps to have the image on the same timeline as the recording. Tight Studio is a Mac screen recorder and editor with image overlays built in.

Here is the end-to-end flow:

1. Record your screen in Tight Studio as usual.
2. Add an image from the media library and pick the file you want - a screenshot, diagram, logo, or photo.
3. Place it on the timeline over the moment it should appear, and drag its edges to set how long it stays on screen.
4. Position and size it on the canvas, and set its opacity so it sits over the recording the way you want.
5. Animate it in and out. Image overlays use the same enter and exit animations as text - Fade, Slide, or Scale on the way in and on the way out, set independently, with adjustable duration.
6. Export with the image baked in at the right moment.

Because the image lives on the timeline next to the recording, trimming or re-ordering a section moves the image with it. There is no second tool and no re-export round trip.

What Tight Studio adds

• Timed image overlays - place an image at a specific moment and set exactly how long it stays.
• Position, scale, and opacity - put it anywhere on the canvas at any size, fully or partially transparent.
• Enter/exit animation - the same Fade, Slide, and Scale in/out used on text, with adjustable duration and slide direction.
• Multiple images - layer more than one across the timeline as b-roll or callouts.

The recording polish you would expect from this category is here too - click-following zoom, cursor animation and click highlighting, captions, and AI voiceover - so the images sit in a finished video rather than a bare capture.

Why we built it into the editor

We kept image overlays on the same timeline as the recording on purpose. The reason people add a screenshot or diagram is timing: it should appear exactly when you talk about it and leave before it goes stale. That only works if the image moves with the edit. The moment it lives in a separate app, every trim desyncs it and every revision is a manual re-place. Keeping the image, its timing, and its animation as one object on the timeline removes that friction.

FocuSee vs Tight Studio for adding images

	FocuSee	Export workaround (FocuSee + 2nd editor)	Tight Studio
Persistent watermark image	Yes	n/a	Yes
Timed image overlay (appears/disappears)	No	In the second editor only	Yes
Image as b-roll on the timeline	No	In the second editor only	Yes
Position, scale, opacity per image	Watermark only	In the second editor only	Yes
Enter/exit animation on an image	No	Depends on the second editor	Yes
Re-edit after trimming	n/a	Re-export and re-place	Moves with the section
Tools to maintain	One	Two	One

Frequently asked questions

Can you add an image to a video in FocuSee?

Only as a persistent watermark - one image, always on screen, for the whole recording, with adjustable position, size, and opacity. FocuSee has no way to place a timed image overlay or b-roll that appears at one moment and leaves at another; its annotation tools are limited to text and shapes.

Does FocuSee support b-roll or image overlays?

No. FocuSee’s editor does not support dropping an image onto the timeline as an overlay or b-roll clip. The only image feature is the always-on watermark. Timed image overlays appear nowhere in FocuSee’s guide or changelog.

How do I put a screenshot on top of a screen recording?

Use an editor with image overlays on the timeline. In Tight Studio you add the image, place it on the timeline where it should appear, set its on-screen duration, position and size it, and give it an enter and exit animation - all on the same timeline as the recording.

What is the best FocuSee alternative for adding images?

If timed image overlays or b-roll matter, Tight Studio is the closest like-for-like option on Mac - it has the same category of recording and auto-zoom polish as FocuSee, plus image overlays with position, scale, opacity, and enter/exit animation that FocuSee does not offer.

Is FocuSee’s watermark the same as an image overlay?

No. The watermark is a single image that stays on screen for the entire video - good for a brand mark. An image overlay is placed at a specific moment, stays for a set duration, and then leaves. FocuSee has the first; it does not have the second.