Two ways to make a row, and when each is right
A row of pictures has to decide what to do about shapes that disagree. Matched heights keeps every picture whole and at its own proportions, and lets the widths differ: a portrait beside a landscape comes out as a narrow panel beside a wide one, which is honest and usually what a then-and-now or a pair of product shots wants. Equal cells makes both panels the same size and asks each picture to either fit inside its cell with background around it or fill it and lose an edge. That is the right choice for a before-and-after, where the eye compares the same region across the divider and a difference in panel size would be read as a difference in the pictures.
A before-and-after in four moves
- Add the two frames, before firstThe tray is the order. If they arrive the wrong way round, select one and press Alt with an arrow key, or drag its tile.
- Press Before / afterEqual cells, cropped to a common shape, a thin white divider and a label over each picture. Every one of those is still an ordinary control in the panel.
- Check what each cell keepsA cropped cell carries a label with the share it cuts away. Drag inside it to move what stays, or type the position under Picture.
- Set the width and exportChoose Width under Output for an exact size. The readout shows it as margin, picture, gap, picture, margin before you press Export.
Where a row stops being the right shape
Past three or four pictures a row gets very wide and each picture very short. The same board stacks them into a column, lays them into a grid or packs them into columns from the arrangement bar, without losing any of the settings made here.
Questions people ask
The two photos are different shapes. Which one decides the height?
The shorter one. With matched heights each picture is scaled to the height of the smallest, so both keep their proportions and neither is enlarged past its own pixels. If you would rather see them the same size on screen whatever their shapes, switch Sizing to Equal cells: each then fills an identical cell, either whole with background around it or cropped to fill, and a cropped cell tells you how much it loses.
How do I make a clean before-and-after comparison?
Press Before / after in the Layout panel. It puts the two pictures in equal cells cropped to the same shape, sets a thin white divider between them and labels them Before and After over the picture. If the two frames were taken from the same position they line up exactly; if not, drag inside either cell to choose what each one keeps.
Can I get a file exactly 1,200 pixels wide for a blog or a listing?
Yes. Under Output choose Width and type 1200. The gap and margin stay the pixel sizes you set and the pictures are scaled so the whole sum lands on 1,200 exactly — the readout underneath shows the sum, part by part.
Is the order fixed?
No. The tray under the board is the order, left to right. Drag a tile, use Alt with an arrow key on a selected tile, or drag the grip on a selected picture onto another one.