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life:

Certain photos capture more than a moment – they capture history.

Such classic images are special and rare… but what about the photos taken just before or after? LIFE.com scoured the magazine’s legendary archives to find these forgotten frames — pictures that were made often within seconds of “The Shot,” but wound up on the cutting-room floor.

Here, a look at nine famous LIFE images, each compared with a never-before-seen outtake from the same shoot. Side by side, each set offers a fascinating look into the way a single picture can inform our sense of history.