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Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Images
This page gives an overview of how images are used in Wikipedia; for more information, see Image use policy and see Help:Files on how to upload and include an image.
Choosing images
Pertinence and encyclopedic nature
This image of a helicopter over Sydney Opera House shows neither adequately.
Images must be significant and relevant in the topic's context, not primarily decorative. They are often an important illustrative aid to understanding. When possible, find better images and improve captions instead of simply removing poor or inappropriate ones, especially on pages with few visuals. However, not every article needs images, and too many can be distracting.
Images should look like what they are meant to illustrate, whether or not they are provably authentic. For example, a photograph of a trompe-l'œil painting of a cupcake may be an acceptable image for Cupcake, but a real cupcake that has been decorated to look like something else entirely is less appropriate. Similarly, an image of a generic-looking cell under a light microscope might be useful on multiple articles, as long as there are no visible differences between the cell in the image and the typical appearance of the cell being illustrated.
Strive for variety. For example, in an article with numerous images of persons (e.g. Running), seek to depict a variety of ages, genders, and ethnicities. If an article on a general already shows its subject in uniform, then two more formal in-uniform portraits would add little interest or information, but a map of an important battle and an image of its aftermath would be more informative. Resist the temptation to overwhelm an article with images of marginal value simply because many images are available.
Poor-quality images—dark or blurry; showing the subject too small, hidden in clutter, or ambiguous; and so on—should not be used. Think carefully about which images best illustrate the subject matter. For example:
- An image of a white-tailed eagle is useless if the bird appears as a speck in the sky.
- A biography should lead with a portrait photograph of the subject alone, not with other people.
- A suitable picture of a hammerhead sharkwould show its distinctive hammer-like head, to distinguish it from other species of shark.
- A map of Moldova should show its frontiers with Romania and Ukraine, so people may know where the country is located in relation to its neighbors.
- Rice is best represented with an image of plain rice, not fried rice.
- Intangible concepts can be illustrated; for example, a cat with its claws out portrays aggression.
Pages using seals, flags, banners, logos, or other symbols to represent governments, organizations, and institutions should use the version prescribed by that entity when available. These are preferable to amateur creations of similar quality, including photographs of physical representations of emblems.
Avoid entering textual information as images
Do not use images to express textual information in place of real text. See Avoid entering textual information as images for more information.
Scale references
An image sometimes includes a familiar object to communicate scale. Such fiducial markersshould be as culturally universal and standardized as possible: rulers, matches, batteries, playing cards, pens/pencils, CDs/DVDs, soda cans, footballs (soccer balls), people, vehicles, and famous structures such as the 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.
Quantitative data, if available, should still be given in the caption or the article.
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Offensive images
Wikipedia is not censored: its mission is to present information, including information which some may find offensive. However, a potentially offensive image—one that would be considered vulgar or obscene by typical Wikipedia readers[nb 1]—should be included only if it is treated in an encyclopedic manner i.e. only if its omission would cause the article to be less informative, relevant, or accurate, and no equally suitable alternative is available. Per the Foundation, controversial images should follow the "principle of least astonishment": images should respect conventional expectations of readers for a given topic as much as is possible without sacrificing the quality of the article. Avoid images that contain irrelevant or extraneous elements that might seem offensive or harassing to readers; for example, photographs taken in a pornographic context would normally be inappropriate for articles about human anatomy.
Images for the lead
It is common for an article's lead or infobox to carry a representative image—such as of a person or place, a book or album cover—to give readers visual confirmation that they've arrived at the right page.
For some topics, selecting the lead image can be difficult. While Wikipedia is not censored, lead images should be selected with care. The lead image is perhaps the first thing to catch the reader's eye, so avoid lead images that readers would not expect to see there. Unlike other content beyond the lead, the lead image should be chosen with these considerations in mind.
Advice on selecting a lead image includes:
- Lead images should be natural and appropriate representations of the topic; they should not only illustrate the topic specifically, but also be the type of image used for similar purposes in high-quality reference works, and therefore what our readers will expect to see. Lead images are not required, and not having a lead image may be the best solution if there is no easy representation of the topic.
- Lead images should be of least shock value; an alternative image that accurately represents the topic without shock value should always be preferred. For example, using an image of deportees being subjected to selection as the lead image at this version of Holocaust is far preferable to the appropriate images that appear later in the article that show the treatment of the prisoners or corpses from the camps.
- Sometimes it is impossible to avoid using a lead image with perceived shock value, for example in articles on human genitalia. Editors may assume, per Wikipedia:Content disclaimer, that readers are aware that such articles may contain such images.
- Articles about ethnic groups or similarly large human populations should not be illustrated by a photomontage or gallery of images of group members; see this RfC for most recent consensus discussion on the topic.
On some mobile platforms an article's first image may be displayed at the top of the article, even if it appears well into the article in the desktop view. When placing images consider whether this phenomenon may mislead or confuse readers using mobile devices.
Life cycles of images
Sometimes an image is removed from articles in favor of an image of higher quality or greater pertinence, or with a friendlier licensing status. However, such superseded images should not be deleted, so that Wikipedia's historical record is preserved; the history of articles becomes confused if disused images and templates are deleted. On the other hand, images removed because it is discovered that they violate copyright, privacy, or similar considerations should be listed at Wikipedia:Files for discussion for potential deletion. Likewise, replaced fair use images no longer used in any article must be deleted.
If you find an exceptionally good image, you are encouraged to nominate it as a Wikipedia:Featured picture candidate.
How to place an image
Making images available
See also
Notes
- ^ Here a "typical Wikipedia reader" is defined by the cultural beliefs of the majority of the website readers (not active editors) that are literate in an article's language. Clarifying this viewpoint may require a broad spectrum of input and discussion, as cultural views can differ widely.
- ^ If you do much work with image layouts, consider leaving your preference at 220px to match the "reader experience" of most readers.
- ^
pxworks the same asuprightfor 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 coded275px—presumably to make it wider than most images on a particular page—is actually rendered smaller than most images if the user has changed his base width to 300px. In contrast,uprightresponds 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|thumb|330pxor|thumb|upright=1.5(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. - ^ An example of Abraham Lincoln's portrait mirrored
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