[Tex/LaTex] Image disappears in Figure* environment when using [H]

Question

I am using a standard [twocolumn]{article} class, but want to insert a image that spans both columns. To do this I am using the figure* environment, but when I use the [H] option, my image disappears.

\documentclass[twocolumn]{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{gensymb}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage{mhchem}
\usepackage{lipsum}

\usepackage{float}

%% Packages I've tried to use for work arounds
%%\usepackage{dblfloatfix}  % position images that span both columns
%%\usepackage{subcaption}
%%\usepackage{placeins}
%%\usepackage{afterpage}


\begin{document}

\title{Example Article}


%% main text
\section{Introduction}
\lipsum[1]

\newpage
\section{Results}
\lipsum[1]

\begin{figure*}[H]
    \centering
    \includegraphics[width=0.8\textwidth]{images/file_name}
    \caption{caption}~\label{fig:figure1}
\end{figure*}

\clearpage

\section{Conclusions}
\lipsum[3-4]

\end{document}

The intro and results paragraphs are both short, so I want them at the top, with the image at the bottom spanning both columns. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

The two column figure* is only compatible with [tp]. There is a fix in dblfloatfix.sty to use [b] but that will put the figure on the bottom of next page. Still not compatible with [h]. The easiest way I can think of, if the columns look something in the example, is to place it yourself using a minipage. I have used \captionof from the caption package to get the caption.

\documentclass[final,5p,times,twocolumn]{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{gensymb}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage{mhchem}
\usepackage{lipsum}

\usepackage{float}
\usepackage{caption}%% To get \captionof

%% Packages I've tried to use for work arounds
%%\usepackage{dblfloatfix}  % position images that span both columns
%%\usepackage{subcaption}
%%\usepackage{placeins}
%%\usepackage{afterpage}

\begin{document}

\title{Example Article}
\maketitle

%% main text
\section{Introduction}
\lipsum[1]
See Figure~\ref{fig:figure1}.

\vfill
\noindent
\begin{minipage}{1.0\textwidth}
  \strut\newline
  \centering
  \includegraphics[width=0.8\textwidth,height=5cm]{example-image}
  \captionof{figure}{caption}\label{fig:figure1}
\end{minipage}

\newpage
\section{Results}
\lipsum[1]

% \begin{figure*}[tb]
%     \centering
%     \includegraphics[width=0.8\textwidth,height=5cm]{example-image}
%     \caption{caption}\label{fig:figure1}
% \end{figure*}

\clearpage
\section{Conclusions}
\lipsum[3-4]

\end{document}