A featured picture:
- Is of a high technical standard.
- It has good contrast, accurate exposure and neutral colour balance.
- It shows no significant compression artifacts, burned-out highlights, image noise ("graininess") or other processing anomalies. Examples of common technical problems can be found here.
- Its main subject is in focus, it has good composition and has no highly distracting or obstructing elements.
- Exceptions to this rule may be made for historical or otherwise unique images. If it is considered impossible to find a technically superior image of a given subject, lower quality may sometimes be allowed.1
- Is of high resolution.
- It is of sufficiently high resolution to allow quality print reproduction. Still images should be a minimum of 1000 pixels in width or height; larger sizes are generally preferred. The size of animated images is judged less strictly, though larger is still preferred. Further information on image size can be found here.
- Exceptions to this rule may be made for historical or otherwise unique images, if no higher resolution could be acquired.
- Note that vector graphics in SVG format can have a nominal size much smaller than this, as by their nature they can be infinitely scaled without loss of quality.
- Animations and video may be somewhat smaller.
- Panoramas need to be substantially larger than 1000 pixels in the longer dimension in order for sufficient details to be seen.
- Is among Wikipedia's best work.
- It is a photograph, diagram, image or animation which is among the best examples of a given subject that the encyclopedia has to offer.
- It illustrates the subject in a compelling way, making the viewer want to know more. A photograph has appropriate lighting to maximize visible detail; diagrams and other illustrations are clear and informative.
- A featured picture is not always required to be aesthetically pleasing; it might be shocking, impressive, or just highly informative. Highly graphic, historical and otherwise unique images may not have to be classically beautiful at all. See these examples for a basic guide.
- commons:http://wiki.w2n.net/help/Scanning offers advice on preparing non-photographic media (engravings, illustrations from books, etc) in your possession for Wikipedia.
- Has a free license. It is available in the public domain or under a free license. Fair use images are not allowed. To check which category a particular image tag falls under, see the list at http://wiki.w2n.net/wikipedia/Image copyright tags.
- Adds value to an article and helps readers to understand an article.
- The image is used in one or more articles.2
- A picture's encyclopedic value is given priority over its artistic value.3
- Is accurate. It is supported by facts in the article or references cited on the image page, or is from a source noted for its accuracy. It is not created to propose new original research, such as unpublished ideas or arguments.
- Has a good caption The picture is displayed with a descriptive, informative and complete caption. A complete caption:
- Is succinct.
- Properly identifies the main subject, including Latin and technical names where applicable.
- Describes the context of the photograph, painting, or other media. Geotagging photographs of identifiable places is encouraged.4
- States the most relevant meta-detail (such as date, location, event, version, etc)5
- Avoids inappropriate digital manipulation.
- Digital manipulation for the purpose of correcting flaws in a photographic image is generally acceptable provided it is limited, well-done, and not deceptive.
- Typical acceptable manipulation includes cropping, perspective correction, sharpening/blurring, and colour/exposure correction.
- More extensive manipulation should be clearly described in the image text.
- Any manipulation which causes the main subject to be misrepresented is unacceptable.
Improving image quality
See: http://wiki.w2n.net/wikipedia/How to improve image quality
Examples of good images
See: http://wiki.w2n.net/wikipedia/Featured pictures
Examples of image problems
See: http://wiki.w2n.net/wikipedia/WIAFP/Examples of technical problems
See also
Notes
- ^ For example, this image of the Battle of Normandy is grainy, but very few pictures of that event exist. However, where quite a number of pictures exist, for instance, the moon landing, FPC attempts to select the best of the ones produced.
- ^ An image has more encyclopedic value (often abbreviated to "EV" or "enc" in discussions) if it contributes strongly to a single article, rather than contributes weakly to many. Adding an image to numerous articles to gain EV is counterproductive and may antagonize both FPC reviewers and article editors.
- ^ While effects such as black and white, sepia, oversaturation, and abnormal angles may be visually pleasing, they often detract from the accurate depiction of the subject.
- ^ This entails providing the coordinates of where the camera was when the photo was taken, either in the article and/or on the image description page, to an appropriate degree of precision no less than ~10 kmĀ².
- ^ Caption criteria are explained in more detail at http://wiki.w2n.net/wikipedia/Captions. Although not an FPC requirement, the image description can be extended to provide further context and subject details, which may be useful when featuring the image on the Main Page.
The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the copyrighted Wikipedia "Wikipedia - Featured picture criteria" article.
