Wikipedia:Images
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wikipedia contains hundreds of thousands of illustrative images and other media. This page gives a very brief overview of how images are used in Wikipedia.
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[edit] Image preferences
Logged in users can set the size of thumbnails they want in special:preferences under "files". The default, used by those not logged in, is 180 pixels. Logged in users can choose from widths of 120px, 150px, 180px, 200px, 250px or 300px.
Also under files in special:preferences you can set the size limit of images shown on image description pages. By default, if either the width or the height exceeds 800px or 600px respectively, then the image is reduced in size until it fits within those dimensions. You can choose from sizes of 320x240px, 640x480px, 800x600px, 1024x768px, 1280x1024px, or 10000x10000px. The last will effectively display all images at 100% resolution.
[edit] Using images
To incorporate your image in an article you need to use the image markup. As an example in its simplest form, to reproduce the image at the top of this page insert the following text into an article:
[[Image:Example.png|thumb|right|Example image caption]]
Where the image is called Example.png. Using "thumb" forces the creation of a thumbnail; replace "Example image caption" with a suitable caption.
Full set of options is more complex — see Wikipedia:Extended image syntax — but the vast majority of images should be displayed in the above format.
Images on external sites can no longer be linked inline due to several reasons:
- inline linking to images on other sites is often considered "leeching" and is thus rude
- allowing online image linking makes it easier for vandals to post images from shock sites
- external images are often unreliable and may be removed from the sites without any notice
Instead, to place an image on Wikipedia, you will need to upload it.
[edit] Forced image size
See Wikipedia:Image use policy#Displayed image size and Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Images
[edit] Obtaining images
All images on Wikipedia must comply with the image use policy. This means that they must be compatible with the conditions of the GNU Free Documentation License. In particular, images must be free for commercial use and alteration. Some fair use of copyrighted material is, however, allowed in limited circumstances.
[edit] Making images yourself
You can take a photograph with your digital camera, mobile phone with integrated digital camera, draw an image digitally, perhaps with a graphics tablet, or scan drawings or photos taken with a film camera and upload the image.
[edit] Finding images on the Internet
An extensive list of free image resources by topic is at Wikipedia:Public domain image resources. Useful general purpose image search engines include Google Image Search, Picsearch and YotoPhoto. Flickr has a Creative Commons section at http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons. Images with Attribution and Attribution-ShareAlike may be used on Wikipedia subject to the licence terms.
If you find an image on the Internet that is not available freely, you can email the copyright owner and also ask for their permission to release it under the GFDL adapting the permission requests.
If you cannot find a suitable image, you can make a request at Wikipedia:Requested pictures so that another contributor might find or create a suitable image.
[edit] Uploading images
Logged in users can upload media to Wikipedia. It is recommended that free media (but not fair use media) be uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons (separate registration and login there is required). Media on the Commons can be linked to in the same way as media of the same name on to Wikipedia.
Media can be uploaded to the English Wikipedia at special:upload and to the Wikimedia Commons at commons:special:upload.
Each image comes with its own image description page. On that page should be documented the source, author, and copyright status of the image using one of the pre-defined copyright tags. It is also important to add descriptive (who, what, when, why) and technical information (equipment, software, etc.), which will be useful and informative to later editors and readers, and which it's likely that only you, the uploader, can supply. Wikipedia also has a proposed guideline on the use of sexually explicit images.
[edit] Image choice and placement
Beyond the basics of copyright and markup, editors face choices of image selection and placement. Some editors maintain that photographs are preferable to paintings and sketches. Notable exceptions exist. Bird identification guides have traditionally used sketches. Other editors dispute giving any preference to photographs.
Articles that use more than one image should present a variety of material near relevant text. Three uniformed portraits would be redundant for a biography of a famous general. A map of a battle and a picture of its aftermath would provide more information to readers.
Images should be large enough to reveal relevant detail without overwhelming the surrounding article text. Similar types of images within an article often look appealing if they appear at the same pixel size.
[edit] Pertinence and encyclopedicity
Images must be relevant to the article they appear in and be of sufficient notability (relative to the article's topic). Their origin must be properly referenced. In the case of an image not directly attributed to its creator (e.g. in the case of reproduction of ancient artwork or artifacts), it is not sufficient to merely indicate the image's immediate source (such as an URL), but the identity of the image's content (author, manuscript, museum id) must be given (see also Wikipedia:Reliable sources). Images that aren't properly identified (e.g. images with descriptions such as "a cuneiform tablet", "a medieval manuscript" etc.) are unencyclopedic and hence not useful for Wikipedia.
[edit] Other
Eventually some of the images reach the end of their life cycle. They may be superseded or replaced by an image with a friendlier copyright policy. If you come across an image that needs to go, list it on Wikipedia:Images and media for deletion.
If you have contributed or found an image that stands out from the crowd, you are invited to nominate it for inclusion on the Wikipedia:Featured pictures list.
