diff --git a/internal/atlas/image_test.go b/internal/atlas/image_test.go
index 96f7257a7..9b3befac4 100644
--- a/internal/atlas/image_test.go
+++ b/internal/atlas/image_test.go
@@ -813,8 +813,8 @@ func TestIteratingImagesToPutOnSourceBackend(t *testing.T) {
 func TestGC(t *testing.T) {
 	img := atlas.NewImage(16, 16, atlas.ImageTypeRegular)
 	img.WritePixels(make([]byte, 4*16*16), image.Rect(0, 0, 16, 16))
-	runtime.KeepAlive(img)
 	c0 := atlas.DeferredFuncCountForTesting()
+	runtime.KeepAlive(img)
 	runtime.GC()
 	c1 := atlas.DeferredFuncCountForTesting()
 	if got, want := c1, c0+1; got != want {