It's ok to say "the above image" but not "the below image"

Question

Frequently, when editing/reviewing SE posts, I see the following:

as you can see in the below image.

Now, to me, below image, just sounds wrong and I reverse the order, changing it to:

as you can see in the image below.

However, in my own posts, I will often write:

as the above image shows

en lieu of

as you can see in the image above

because it sounds, to me, to be a bit more in keeping with formal documentation. The phrase ... image above is, obviously, correct also, and sounds fine, just not so technical.

TL;DR

• Why does above image sound ok, but below image does not?
• Am I wrong, and the only one who thinks this sounds odd?
• Why isn't the antonym of above (which is an adjective), not an adjective itself? It seems rather asymmetrical.

Update:

I hadn't realised that this had already been asked on SE ELU: Which is correct: “the below information” or “the information below”?. I should have checked, apologies

Answer 1

The below image and the above image are writing conventions used to refer to a figure in terms of its relative position in the text.

In the three-dimensional world of things, we say

Noise was coming from the apartment above.

You can put that book on the shelf below.

P.S. I suppose above and below would be so-called "small clauses" here.