Wikipedia: The Missing Manual

Finding Images

If you want an image for an article and aren’t in a position to take a photo to create that image, you have a number of options:

• Look through the more than three million images and other media files at Wikimedia Commons. Since the Commons is simply a repository for images for various Wikimedia Foundation projects, including Wikipedia, it’s not surprising that its category system is displayed on its main page. Or you can search it using the Mayflower tool, at http://toolserver.org/~tangotango/mayflower/.

• Search the Web, including the Commons, Flickr, and other language Wikipedias, using the Free Image Search Tool (FIST), at http://tools.wikimedia.de/~magnus/fist.php. This tool was specifically developed to look for free images for Wikipedia articles. It also lets you replace non-free and placeholder images.

• Review the lists of places that have free or public domain images, to see if one seems like a good candidate for what you’re looking for. See the pages Wikipedia:Free image resources (shortcut: WP:FIR) and Wikipedia:Public domain image resources (shortcut: WP:PDIR).

• Place a request for an image in the article itself. For details, see the page Wikipedia:Upload placeholder images (shortcut WP:UPPI). This method adds a generic image of a male or female person to the article.

• You can post a request at the pages Wikipedia:Requested photos (shortcut: WP:RP) and Wikipedia:Photo Matching Service (shortcut: WP:PMS).

For even more information, see the page Wikipedia:Finding ...