Image-based water level measurements offer data quality assurance through visual verification that no other method can provide. GaugeCam Remote Image Manager-Educational version 2 (GRIME2) is a mature, open-source commercial friendly software application that automatically detects and measures water level in laboratory and field settings. The software relies on a dedicated target background for water line detection and image calibration. The system detects the sharp change in pixel grey scale values associated with the intersection of the water level against the light color of the target. Fiducials on the target background are used to precisely create a pixel to real world coordinate transfer matrix and to correct for camera movement. The presented software package implements the algorithms and automates the process of water level measurement, annotation of images with result overlays, creation of animations, and output of results to files that can be further analyzed in a spreadsheet or with R or Python. These GRIME2 features are illustrated using imagery from a coastal marsh field site. Trade-offs between workflow and algorithm complexity and ease of use are discussed and future improvements are identified with the intention that this FAIR-inspired (FAIR = Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) software can be adopted, modified and improved by the user community.