[Tex/LaTex] Extra page at beginning of appendix containing big figures

appendicesfloatspositioningspacing

I have an appendix that contains two full-page figures. The first page of the appendix is always blank except for the title — I suspect this is a common problem with appendices of full page figures.

I narrowed the problem down to a MWE that, as it turns out can be reproduced without appendices at all. Here it is:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[top=1in, bottom=1in, left=0.5in, right=0.5in]{geometry}
\usepackage[demo]{graphicx}

\begin{document}

\section{Big Figure}
\begin{figure}[h]
    \caption{Big Figure}
    \includegraphics[height=0.76\vsize, width=0.4\hsize]{foo.png}
\end{figure}

\end{document}

which yields

enter image description here

Clearly there is enough room to fit this on a single page.

Changing to height=0.75 yields

enter image description here

Note the excessive white space below the figure.

What is going on here? Why can't this figure be bigger without creating a second page?

Best Answer

Since your image must go in a precise location, it doesn't make much sense to use a floating environment; use a minipage and \captionof (from the capt-of or caption packages) to provide the caption:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[top=1in, bottom=1in, left=0.5in, right=0.5in]{geometry}
\usepackage[demo]{graphicx}
\usepackage{capt-of}

\begin{document}

\section{Big Figure}
\noindent\begin{minipage}{\textwidth}
    \centering
    \captionof{figure}{Big Figure}
    \includegraphics[height=0.76\vsize, width=0.4\hsize]{foo.png}
\end{minipage}

\end{document}

enter image description here

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