What is the difference between plt.show and cv2.imshow in Matplotlib?

A simple call to the imread method loads our image as a multi-dimensional NumPy array (one for each Red, Green, and Blue component, respectively) and imshow displays our image on the screen. Whereas, cv2 represents RGB images as multi-dimensional NumPy arrays, but in reverse order.

Steps

Set the figure size and adjust the padding between and around the subplots.
Initialize the filename.
Add a subplot to the current figure using nrows=1, ncols=2, and index=1.
Read the image using cv2.
Off the axes and show the figure in the next statement.
Add a subplot to the current figure using nrows=1, ncols=2, and index=2.
Read the image using plt.
Off the axes and show the figure in the next statement.
To display the figure, use show() method.

Example

import cv2
from matplotlib import pyplot as plt, image
plt.rcParams["figure.figsize"] = [7.50, 3.50]
plt.rcParams["figure.autolayout"] = True
filename = "bird.jpg"
plt.subplot(121)
img = cv2.imread(filename)
plt.axis("off")
plt.imshow(img)
plt.title("with cv2")
plt.subplot(122)
img = image.imread(filename)
plt.axis("off")
plt.imshow(img)
plt.title("with plt")
plt.show()