As a digital artist or photographer, you might want to place two photos side by side in Photoshop. There can be plenty of reasons why you’d want to put two images together: a before and after image side-by-side comparison, a series of artworks, etc. This tutorial explains 2 quick techniques that will show you how to put two images side by side in Photoshop!
My two images ‘Space Captain‘ and ‘Space Junkie‘ side by side in Photoshop.
How to put two images side by side in Photoshop?
There can be plenty of reasons why you, as a digital artist or photographer, might want to place two photos side by side in Photoshop.
For example, you might want to put two pictures together in Photoshop that belong to the same series of artworks. You might want to show a side-by-side comparison of the before-and-after images of your creations. Or, you might want to compare two images side-by-side that are similar in color, style, theme, media, etc.
Whatever your reasons may be for combining pictures, in this Photoshop tutorial I’ll be showing you how to put two images side by side in Photoshop – with 2 quick techniques!
Of course, you can also use these techniques to put multiple photos on one page in Photoshop, or on one canvas – as you would call it in Photoshop jargon… ʕᴖᴥᴖʔ
To put two images side by side in Photoshop, you can use one of the following 2 techniques:
TECHNIQUE 1:
STEP 1: Open Photoshop & import the 1st image
Open your Photoshop app and start by importing the first image. Go to the top menu bar and click on File > Open.
Then choose the desired image from your computer and click on the Open button.
STEP 2: Import the 2nd image
Repeat the above steps to open your second picture.
Both pictures should now be open in Photoshop, with each being in a dedicated tab.
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STEP 3: Increase the canvas size of the 1st image
Step 3 will now show you how to put two images side by side in Photoshop.
To put two images on one page in Photoshop, you’ll need to enlarge the canvas of one of the images. Let’s say you want to make the canvas of the first image larger.
To do so, go the first image tab and click on Image > Canvas Size in the top menu bar. This will bring up the Canvas Size dialog box.
If you want to put two images side by side in Photoshop horizontally, you’ll need to enlarge the width of the canvas.
As for my example, I know that both my images are 650 pixels in width. That means I’ll need to enter a value of 1300 pixels to get twice the canvas width that I have right now.
You can choose the measurement unit from the dropdown menu. There are a couple of options, including pixels, centimeters, millimeters, inches, and more.
In the Anchor section, move the point to where you want the first image to be on the canvas. For example, if you want the first image to be on the left-hand side, position the point in the center left field. Once you’re done, hit OK!
STEP 4: Drag the 2nd image over to the 1st image tab & drop it on the canvas
Now it’s time to add the second image to the enlarged canvas of the first image.
Go to the second photo tab and select the Move Tool from the Toolbar. Then drag the second photo over to the first image tab and drop it on the canvas.
Place it on the right-hand side of the first image and tweak its position with the arrow keys on your keyboard until both pictures align.
Feel free to enlarge the canvas even more or scale down your images, if you want to create a border between and/or around both pictures!
These were the basic four steps for how to put two images side by side in Photoshop of Technique 1!
TECHNIQUE 2:
Technique 2 for how to put two images side by side in Photoshop is even faster than the first technique. There are only 3 steps that will allow you to put two images together in Photoshop.
Let’s get started!
STEP 1: Open Photoshop & import both images with the File Stack Loader
With Photoshop open, instead of importing one image after the other, we’re now going to import both images at the same time.
To do so, click on File > Scripts > Load Files into Stack in the top menu bar.
This will bring up the Load Layers dialog box.
Make sure you have Files selected in the dropdown menu under Use, if you want to load individual images instead of entire folders.
Then click on the Browse button. Select the images you want to import from your computer by holding the Command (CMD) key on a Mac or Control (CTRL) key on a PC and clicking on the image files.
Once you’ve selected the two images you want to put side by side in Photoshop, click on the Open button.
This will bring you back to the Load Layers dialog box where your selected files will be listed in the box.
Click again on the OK button and both images will automatically load into one Photoshop file!
STEP 2: Enlarge the canvas with the Crop Tool
You should now see both images on top of each other on two different layers. So the next thing we’re going to do is enlarge the canvas size using the Crop Tool.
Simply pick the Crop Tool from the Toolbar and drag the right-hand grid border further beyond the canvas.
Make sure to have Delete Cropped Pixels unchecked in the top bar, so you don’t accidentally lose parts of your images.
STEP 3: Drag one image next to the other
Now that you’ve enlarged your canvas, you can drag one image next the other. Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to perfectly align the two images.
If you’ve cropped your canvas too large or too small, you can pick again the Crop Tool and tweak everything to your liking.
Add some spacing or a border, and once you’re happy with the result, save your two side-by-side images with Photoshop’s Save for Web function.
This is how easy it is to put two images side by side in Photoshop!
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I hope that this tutorial on how to put two images side-by-side 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. ♥
