UniWiki:Manual of Style/Images: Difference between revisions

An image sometimes includes a familiar object to communicate scale. Such ''[[Wikipedia:Fiducial marker|fiducial markers]]'' should be as culturally universal and standardized as possible: [[Wikipedia:Ruler|rulers]], [[Wikipedia:Match|matches]], [[Wikipedia:Battery (electricity)|batteries]], [[Wikipedia:Playing card|playing cards]], [[Wikipedia:Pen|pens]]/[[Wikipedia:Pencil|pencils]], [[Wikipedia:CD|CDs]]/[[Wikipedia:DVD|DVDs]], [[Wikipedia:Soda can|soda cans]], [[Wikipedia:Football (ball)|footballs]] (soccer balls), people, vehicles, and famous structures such as the [[Wikipedia:Eiffel Tower|Eiffel Tower]] are good choices, but many others are possible. Such objects as coins, banknotes, and sheets of paper are less satisfactory because they are specific to given locales, but may be better than none at all since at least the general scale is still communicated.

*An image's size is controlled by changing its width{{snd}}after which software automatically adjusts height in proportion. (Most references to an image's "size" really mean its width.)

All images must comply with [[Wikipedia:Image use policy|Wikipedia's image use policy]]: in general, they must be free for reuse, including commercial use and use after alteration, though some "[[fair use]]" of non-free content is allowed in limited circumstances{{mdashb}}see [[Wikipedia:Non-free content]].

====Making images yourself {{anchor|Annotated image}}====

{{selfref|For further information, see: [[Wikipedia:Picture tutorial|Picture tutorial]] and [[Wikipedia:Graphics tutorials|Graphics tutorials]]}}

You may upload photographs, drawings, or other graphics created with a camera, scanner, graphics software, and so on. When photographing or scanning potentially copyrighted works, or creating depictions of persons other than yourself, be sure to respect copyright and privacy restrictions.{{explain}}

In order to maximize images' usefulness in all languages, avoid including text within them. Instead, add text, links, references, etc, to images using [[Template:Annotated image]] or [[Template:Annotated image 4]], which can also be used to expand the area around an image or crop and enlarge part of an image{{mdashb}}all without the need for uploading a new, modified image.

{{selfref|For further information, see: [[Wikipedia:Finding images tutorial|Finding images tutorial]]}}

An extensive list of free image resources by topic can be found at: [[Wikipedia:Public domain image resources|Public domain image resources]]. In addition to [[Wikimedia Commons]], the [[:m:Toolserver|Wikimedia Toolserver]] has a [[tools:~magnus/fist.php|Free Image Search Tool]] (FIST), which automatically culls free images from the [[Wikipedia:Wikimedia sister projects|Wikimedia sister projects]], [[Flickr]] and a few other sites. Several other useful, general purpose [[image search]] engines include: [[Google Image Search]], [[Picsearch]] and [[Pixsta]]. [[Creative Commons]] licensed images with ''Attribution'' and ''Attribution-ShareAlike'' as their license may be used on Wikipedia. '''Images with any license restricting commercial use or the creation of derivative works may not be used on Wikipedia'''.

 

====Requesting images from others====

{{columns-list|colwidth=25em|

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[[File:Moon worldwind.jpg|thumb|In this [[pseudocolor]] image of the moon, red tints represent the highest elevations, purple the lowest; this is not the coloring a viewer of the moon would actually see, and this should be clear in the caption, lest the reader be misled.]]

An  image's utility or quality may be improved by cropping (to focus on the relevant portion), cleaning up scanning artifacts, correcting color balance, removing [[red-eye effect]], or other adjustments.

 

Edits that improve the presentation without materially altering the content need not be mentioned in the caption e.g. rotation to correct a slightly crooked image, improvement to the contrast of a scan, or blurring a background to make the main subject more prominent. (However, all changes to images taken from outside sources should be noted on the [[#Image description pages|image's description page]]. For images created by editors themselves, changes which could have been part of the image's original composition{{mdashb}}such as rotation or minor cropping{{mdashb}}need not be mentioned on the description page.)

For assistance in editing images, try [[WP:Graphics Lab]].

{{selfref|For further information, see: [[Wikipedia:Uploading images|Uploading images]], and [[Wikipedia:File names|File names]]}}

[[Special:userlogin|Logged in]] users with [[Wikipedia:Autoconfirmed users|autoconfirmed accounts]] (meaning at least four days old and at least ten edits at the English Wikipedia) can upload media to the English Wikipedia. It is recommended that '''only''' [[Wikipedia:File copyright tags/Free licenses|free licensed]] media, '''not''' [[Wikipedia:Non-free content|fair use]] media, be uploaded to [[Wikimedia Commons]]. Media on Wikimedia Commons can be linked to in the same way as media of the same name on Wikipedia. To upload media to the English Wikipedia, go to [[special:upload]] and for Wikimedia Commons, go to [[commons:special:upload]]. For preferred file formats, see: [[Wikipedia:Preparing images for upload|Preparing images for upload]].

{{see|Wikipedia:Categorization#Files/images}}

Each image has a corresponding [[Help:Image page|description page]], which documents the image's source, author and [[Wikipedia:Copyrights|copyright status]]; descriptive (who, what, when, where, why) information; and technical (equipment, software, etc.) data useful to readers and later editors.

Description pages for images are rediscovered by editors using the [[H:S|search engine]] and the [[Help:Categories|categories]]. To help editors find precise images, please remember to document the image description page accordingly.  Well-categorized and well-described images are more likely to be used.

Images can greatly increase the [[bandwidth (computing)|bandwidth]] cost of viewing an article{{snd}}a consideration for readers on slow or expensive connections. Articles carry reduced-size [[thumbnail]]s instead of full images (which the user can view by "clicking through" the thumbnail) but in some file types a thumbnail's reduced dimensions doesn't translate into a concomitant reduction in file size. (In most browsers you can see a thumbnail's size by right-clicking for its "Properties".)

* [[GIF]] images with a frame size larger than 12.5 million pixels (measured as pixel height × pixel width × number of frames in the animation) cannot currently be displayed in thumbnail form in Wikipedia articles. A thumbnail of a GIF image can be considerably larger in kilobytes than the original image file.

* Animated [[GIF]] images have a few additional restrictions. Images larger than 12.5 million pixels (measured as pixel height × pixel width × number of frames in the animation) currently will only show the first frame of the animation in a thumbnail. When not using a GIF animation at its original frame size, consider creating an Ogg [[Theora]] movie of the animation.

* The [[Portable Network Graphics|PNG]] format is useful for storing graphics that contain text, line art, or other images with sharp transitions. It can achieve the same graphical results as a GIF file, and in many cases do so with a higher rate of [[file compression]]. For this reason, PNG format files are usually preferred to the GIF format.  (However, for certain types of images, PNG thumbnailing is not as efficient as GIF thumbnailing, when Wikimedia GIF thumbnailing is enabled.) For images with substantial editing, or for which further editing may be warranted, uploading a PNG as well as a JPEG is common (PNG is lossless compression, so repeatedly saving edits on a PNG will not result in loss of quality.)

* A [[JPEG]] or other compressed image format can be much smaller than a comparable GIF or PNG format file. When there is no apparent difference in quality, such as with a photograph that has no sharp graphical transitions, a compressed image format such as JPEG may be preferable for reasons of download performance. Wikipedia is often able to achieve much better compression of JPEG photograph thumbnails than comparable PNG images, and with little perceptible loss of quality. Repeatedly loading and resaving an image as JPEG will result in loss of quality, however, as will using low settings for the JPEG; as such, if you've made edits, it can be helpful to save a PNG or TIFF copy before closing the image editor and upload that as well; this copy can then be used to generate a new JPEG after further editing.  

* Where an image consists solely of line art, charts text and simple graphics, an [[Scalable Vector Graphics|SVG]] file can be significantly smaller than other graphics formats. This is because the data is encoded as a series of drawing commands, rather than as [[raster graphics]]. There are [[open source]] applications available for rendering graphics in SVG format. However, SVG thumbnails are rendered as PNGs.

<code>px</code> works the same as <code>upright</code> for users with the usual base width setting of 220px, but works counterintuitively for readers whose base width is set to a different value (see [[Help:Preferences#Files]]). For example, an image coded <code>275px</code>{{mdashb}}presumably to make it wider than most images on a particular page{{mdashb}}is actually rendered ''smaller'' than most images if the user has changed his base width to 300px. In contrast, <code>upright</code> responds gracefully to changes in the user's base width, maintaining the relative size of images in any given article by enlarging or reducing all of them proportionately.

However, a thumbnail can '''not''' be displayed larger than the original uploaded image. For example, if an image is coded <code>thumb|330px</code> or <code>thumb|upright=1.5</code> (for a reader with the usual base width of 220px), but the original uploaded file was only 200px wide, then the article thumbnail will still be displayed at only 200px.