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: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 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.
[edit] Improving image quality See: Wikipedia:How to improve image quality [edit] Examples of good images See: Wikipedia:Featured pictures [edit] Examples of image problems See: Wikipedia:WIAFP/Examples of technical problems [edit] See also - ^ 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 km².
- ^ Caption criteria are explained in more detail at 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.
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