Posting Before-and-After images of your digital artworks is a fantastic way to show your creative process and editing skills. It’s also a great means to create exposure because many people are keen to see how the digital work started out. This tutorial shows you how to make a Before and After picture in Photoshop – step-by-step: from how to put two pictures side by side in Photoshop over to how to customize the image comparison design to your liking by adding text or frames!
Before & After image comparison of my ‘neglect.‘ from my Surreal Stories Collection.
How do I make a Before and After picture in Photoshop?
Posting Before-and-After images of your digital creations is a great way to show your creative process and editing skills. As a digital artist, you probably start out your artworks with one single image and then build up on it by making a collage of two photos or many more.
People tend to be curious about the beginning of a digital artwork. Statistically, Before-and-After image posts on Pinterest and other social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram help create exposure for your art and drive traffic to your artist website.
Related: → Learn everything about building your own artist website.
In this tutorial, I’ll be showing you step-by-step how to make a Before and After picture in Photoshop.
Making a Before & After picture in Photoshop is very simple. All you need to do is follow the 5 basic steps that I’ve listed below.
Get your FREE Photoshop Before & After Slider
If you like to get a bit more fancy and create a Before and After Slider in Photoshop, then check out my other tutorial here.
You can also download the Photoshop PSD file of the Before and After Slider in the Freebie Library – FOR FREE.
FREE Before & After Photoshop Slider available in the Freebie Library.
So without further ado, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty and see how to make a Before and After picture in Photoshop!
how to put before and after pictures together in photoshop
To put Before & After pictures together in Photoshop, these are the 5 basic steps you'll need to follow:
How To Make A Before And After Picture In Photoshop
STEP 1: Open Photoshop & import the Before Picture
Alternatively, you can also press CMD + O on a Mac or CRTL + O on a PC to open an image file.
STEP 2: Import the After Picture
Repeat the above steps to open your After picture as well.
Both your Before and your After pictures should now be open in Photoshop, with each being in a dedicated tab.
STEP 3: Increase the canvas size of the Before picture
How to put two pictures side by side in Photoshop
To place the two photos side by side on the same canvas, you’ll need to enlarge the canvas size of one of the images.
Let’s say we want to make the canvas of the Before image larger. To do so, go the Before image tab and click on Image > Canvas Size in the top menu bar.
This will bring up the Canvas Size dialog box.
If want to place the Before and After pictures in a landscape-like fashion left and right side by side in Photoshop, then you need to double the width of the canvas.
You can select the measurement unit from the dropdown. In the example above, my Before image measures 600 pixels in width. To double the canvas size, I’ll need to enter a value of 1200 pixels.
In the Anchor section of the Canvas Size dialog box, you can move the point to where you want the Before image to be on your canvas.
I want my Before image to be on the left-hand side, so I’m positioning the point in the center left field.
Once you’re done, hit OK!
If you like to put the two photos side by side at top and bottom in a portrait-like manner, you would obviously need to double the canvas height.
Another way to increase the canvas size is to use the Crop Tool.
Select the Crop Tool from the Toolbar and then simply drag those sides beyond the canvas where you want to create more space.
STEP 4: Drag & drop the After picture on the Before image tab
In Step 4 of our tutorial on how to make a Before and After picture in Photoshop, it’s time to add the After image to the larger canvas.
Go to the After photo tab and select the Move Tool from the Toolbar. Then drag the After photo over to the Before image tab and drop it on the canvas.
Place it on the right-hand side of the Before image and tweak its position with the arrow keys on your keyboard until both pictures align.
And that was it for the main steps! This is how easy it is to create a ‘Before & After’ image using Photoshop!
Of course, you can scale down the images and add some spacing or a border around them. There are lots of options.
Before & After images of ‘neglect.‘ on one canvas with a border around them.
STEP 5: Add text or Frames
Step 5 of how to make a Before and After picture in Photoshop is more about the fine-tuning.
You can add some spacing around both pictures or text elements, such as ‘Before’ and ‘After’ text tabs on top of the images.
For the Before and After comparison of ‘neglect.‘ piece, I’ve scaled down the After image a bit and added a polaroid frame around it. The polaroid frame is a free resource provided by iSuat on DeviantArt. Thank you for that! 😘
Instead of adding ‘Before’ and ‘After’ text, I’ve simply put the artwork’s name below the final version.
You can obviously do as you please. These were just a few ideas to give you some inspiration for how to make a Before and After picture in Photoshop!
Before & After example of ‘neglect.‘ from my Surreal Stories Collection with a free stock polaroid frame from iSuat on DeviantArt.
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I hope that this tutorial on how to make a Before and After picture in Photoshop was helpful. If you found any value in it, please feel free to share it with other artists so they can also learn from it!
If you are using anything of what I’ve showed you in this post, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram @ginangiela, or post a link here in the comments. I’d love to see your creations! Make sure to sign up for my email list below so you don’t miss out on new Photoshop tutorials, perks for subscribers and other cool stuff. ♥
