Purpose: To compare an image as originally captured in the camera with that after it has been edited for final presentation, as in the above sample.

Procedure (Photoshop):

• Open your edited image, flatten it (if layered), convert to 8-bit (if 16-bit)  and resize it to 72 ppi and about 400 pixels height. As for all web images, it should be in sRGB color space.
• Expand the canvas by going to Image - Canvas size. Click your cursor in right side of  the 'anchor' square. This  moves the image from the center to the right side of the new canvas. (If your images are in horizontal orientation, place your edited image at the bottom of the anchor square, and instead of expanding the canvas horizontally as below, do it vertically.)
• Change the Canvas extension color to White by clicking the triangle at the right side of the entry space.
• In the 'New Size' area, click on the triangle to the right of 'inches', and select ‘pixels’ from the dropdown list.
• Increase the Canvas Width to about 2.5 times that of the ‘Current Size’. Click ‘Ok’.

• You should now see a wide canvas with your edited image on the right, and a similarly-sized white space on the left, as below

• Save this image (JPEG, quality level 8) using the ‘Save as’ command, and a different  file-name such as “xxx_AB”, where “xxx” is the original file-name. (Leave this file open.)
• Now, open your original unedited image. (If RAW, do not use any of the tools from your RAW converter to alter the image) . Resize it (as above) to 72 ppi and about 400 pixels height.
• Select  the entire image by pressing CTRL/CMD-A. Then press CTRL/CMD-C to copy it to your clipboard
• Now, minimize this image file so you see only the original edited image with the empty space on the left ('xxx_AB'). Press CTRL/CMD-V to paste the original image from the clipboard into the empty space (as noted in above screenshot). Using the Move tool, align the pasted image so it fits nicely in the white space to the left of the edited image, leaving a narrow border between the two, as in the sample at the top of this page. Crop any extra white canvas from the far left of this compositie image
• Flatten this (layered) image and save it as your ‘before/after’, using the same file-name as above (e.g., “xxx_AB”) and JPEG format.
• If you have any questions, contact me at "info AT pacamera DOT com"
  

Laurie Naiman