Commons:How to take pictures for Wikimedia Commons

From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository

(Redirected from Commons:Tutorial to take great encyclopedic pictures)

You are encouraged to review and improve this tutorial.

Photographs and other pictures can contribute substantially to an article. Here are some hints on how to take photographs for Commons with a view that they be useful for Wikipedia or other Wikimedia projects.

If you want to take good digital pictures, here are a few recommendations.

Pay attention to the vertical/horizontal orientation of the frame in relationship to the subject.
Have good light on the main subject of the photo (preferably daylight) and try to keep the light source behind the photographer.
Put the subject in the center of the picture. If the subject is a person, avoid cutting off any body parts with the edge of the frame, particularly arms and head.

If you plan to buy a camera, you can also take a look at this list of recommended cameras.

If you have experience with cameras and photography, your help in developing this tutorial is greatly appreciated. If you know of a particular camera model you would recommend to others, please add it to this list of recommended cameras.

[edit] Macro closeups of objects

Use macro mode, but zoom in all the way, too. This puts more of the object in focus and increases resolution.
Tearing a plain paper folder apart makes a nice floor and backdrop for the object. It's cheap and easy to make, and the crease is subtler than the line between separate pieces of paper.
Putting white paper on the opposite side of the object from the lamp helps diffuse the shadows and make the lighting more even.
Using the Levels... tool in the GIMP helps get that nice pure white background. Pick a darker area of the white background and set it as your white point.

[edit] Tabletop photography

A white scoop with a photographic subject on it. The white paper cost less than one dollar at a department store. The final photo is at Image:Glass float M5776.jpg.

You can take photos of small objects by placing them on a kitchen table, coffee table, or anything else that's at a convenient height. A sheet of heavy paper, available at department stores, art-supply houses and other places, can serve as the background, eliminating distracting details. You can tape it to a wall or another piece of furniture, and give it a gentle curve as shown in the illustration.

You can do this outdoors or indoors. Setting up outdoors, out of direct sunlight, beneath a roof or overhang to give the light some directionality, results in even lighting with soft, open shadows, giving clear detail. You can include a neutral gray or white card to use for color balance, placing it in the same kind of light as the subject but far enough away that you can crop it out of the file. Color balancing to make that card neutral can yield accurate color.

[edit] Take great Encyclopedic pictures

(stub section, help welcome)

Add here helpful links to expand this section:

The fr.Wikipedia Photographic Workshop's recommendations (basic French)
This amazing gallery of aquatic animals (encyclopedic photography)
what a common Coolpix 4Mega pixel can do when smartly use.

fruit sur fond blanc	Pièce industrielle	Insect (-left view)
Produit naturel	Ustensile quotidien	Animal (clair) sur fond noir
Poudre (café)	Œuvre d'art (statue)	Insecte dans son environnement

[edit] Naming conventions

When you upload your image, please add a suffix indicating the view or perspective. The possibilities are : a/ -global ; b/ -top , -bottom , -left , -right , -front , -back .

Also, the image name may be more accurately labeled if a further description of the perspective or view is added of the photo or number in a sequence like this: Image's subject-view code.extension. Examples: Tomato-front.jpg, Tomato-front-02.jpg if several are available, or Tomato-left-tag.jpg if your also add alpha-numeric tags.