.image-gallery {
    display: flex;
    align-items: center;
    justify-content: center;
    gap: 1rem;
    max-width: 100%;
    width: 100%;
    height: 400px;        /* fixed height for consistency */
    object-fit: cover;    /* crop edges to maintain aspect ratio */
    border-radius: 1em;
    position: relative;
  }
  
  .image-gallery img {
    max-width: 265px;
    max-height: 400px;
    width: 100%;
    height: auto;
    border-radius: 10px;
  }
  
  .image-gallery button {
    background: none;
    border: none;
    font-size: 2rem;
    cursor: pointer;
    color: #333;
    padding: 0.5rem;
  }

  @media (max-width: 37rem) {
    .image-gallery button {
      padding: 0;
      font-size: 1.75rem
    }

    .image-gallery{
      gap: .3rem;
    }
  }
  
  .image-gallery button:hover {
    color: red;
  }

  .counter {
    position: absolute;
    top: 0.5rem;
    right: 0.75rem;
    background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6);
    color: white;
    padding: 0.25em 0.6em;
    font-size: 0.9rem;
    border-radius: 0.5em;
    opacity: 1;
    transition: opacity 0.5s ease-in-out;
    pointer-events: none;
  }
  .counter.fade {
    opacity: 0;
  }