If you come across two images that look very similar and you cannot seem to visually spot any differences between the two, then how would you ensure that they are actually different? There is an easy way to find the differences using any standard graphics editor that supports layers. For this article, we will be using Paint.net because it is freely available and is very small in download size. You can also use other editors like GIMP or even Adobe Photoshop.
So here is how you can find the differences between two similar looking images having the same dimensions. If the pictures have different dimensions, then it won’t work.
- First of all download and install Paint.net on your PC if you have not already done so.
- Now launch Paint.net and open the first image file in it. This can be done by right-clicking on the image file and choosing to open it with Paint.net. Alternatively, you can press Ctrl+O and then select the image file from within the Paint.net window.
- From the menubar, select Layers and then Add from file. Now browse and select the second image file. This will open the second image into a new layer.
- Now you have two layers. The primary layer contains first image and the second layer contains the second image. Press F4 to open the layer properties and select the Blend Mode to be Difference, then click on OK. Leave all the properties to be the same as before.
- The parts in the images that are exactly the same are no longer visible (shown as black) and the dissimilar parts are displayed. In the following screenshot, you can see the difference is the “TrishTech.com” text in the corner.
You can even save the resulting differences to an image file. This method is great to find if an image has been edited and if edited then which parts have been modified. Using this method we can spot even those modified parts which are not easily visible with naked eye.