IEEE full article with small images or more than 8 pages I'm writing a full article (6-8 pages) using IEEE guidelines.

Currently got two versions: one where images are more readable, and another where 4 images to be read need a lot of zoom.

In the first case, the article has 10 pages in total (3 columns are references). In the second case, 8 pages in total (3 columns are references).

I know from fact that


  References most definitely count (for the page total). IEEE page limits are inclusive of
  any front and/or back matter. And it is a HARD limit—not even a single
  word should spill over onto an additional page.


I don't want to have the images like that where the reader needs to put on extra zoom but i also want to respect the total page limit.

Is there a way the images can be placed after references (or anywhere in a specific section) that makes them not count for the total page count?

If not, considering the images are very relevant and both the content and references were reduced as much as i could, what can I do in this situation?
In many, but not all IEEE publications, the hard limit implies that if the paper is larger than N pages, every (N+1)th page is charged with an overlength charge. See this page on IEEE Author Center, which also contains the fresh link to a PDF with current prices (overlength, open-access, color).

Usually, IEEE Transactions on XXX will allow publishing papers that are larger than standard size (up to a certain maximum), while the IEEE XXX Letters-type journals might have a hard limit with no possibility to publish a paper exceeding the standard length even for an extra fee.

I would certainly check the journal (not the general IEEE guideline) you are intending to submit on that matter since you want the images to be legible without a mandatory zoom. The fees vary, but, for example, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation (TAP) charges $200 per extra page (as of 2020). See this 2018 guideline for IEEE TAP which covers more details on how references count and fees are calculated.