| This page documents an official policy that is in effect across the entire SOMA Wiki.
Any concerns, comments or suggestions should be done on the policy's talk page. |
Images are one of the most important parts of any article. They make the article much more appealing from a visual perspective and in turn give the wiki a more professional look, more specifically when the image's placement is good.
However, while they're the most important part they are also the easiest thing to screw up. This page is intended to help users understand what the elements of good photos are and how they can potentially improve upon pre-existing photos.
Taking images
Let's get the most important guideline out of the way. Only upload and add photos which are actually good.
Ask yourself the following questions:
- Is my image a good representation of what I want to capture?
- Can other people understand what this is a photo of?
Image quality
Our usual cut-off point for image quality is 640 by 480px, the equivalent to a 480p video on youtube.
Even if your image surpasses that resolution the actual quality of what's being represented needs to be good. Make sure that there's no other obstructions in your image such as it having bad lighting or the angle of the thing your trying to capture being awkward. Uncontrollable aspects, such as an image being taken during a moment where the screen is blurred intentionally, do not excuse poor photography.
A few don'ts are listed below:
Game settings
- Video settings should be as high as they can go. We do not demand for the highest in-game quality possible but remember that <30 fps does not mean the screenshot will look any different. It's a static image.
- All post-processing effects should be disabled in order to get better looking screenshots of an entire scene.
Placing images
Place images neatly inside articles. Images should be placed in appropriate places which do not intrude on the article's formatting.
Avoid cluttering body paragraphs with photos. A section doesn't need 5+ photos as it will screw up the section's formatting, especially if it is short. You should also never place images in between paragraphs, that's just begging for formatting issues.
The only images that should appear outside of gallery sections is the first image on the page, which is usually in an infobox. Maybe in the future there will be some exceptions, but the only place images should go on an article is the beginning of the article and the gallery.
Galleries
Galleries are those sections you see at the bottom of most pages which contain an exhibition of images.
If you want to add a gallery to a page simply add the following code to the article:
== Gallery == <gallery widths="250"> Your_Image.png|This image's caption. Your_Image2.png|Your second image's caption. </gallery>
This will output...
Organizing galleries
If a gallery has let's say, over 10 images then it might be a good idea to diving up the gallery into multiple sections.
A majority of articles will only need the four following gallery divisions: Concept art, Pre-release, Posters and In-game. An example of all of these can be seen here.
On some occasions exceptions may be given out, such as how the ARK's gallery is divided.
Naming images
Naming primary images
The names for the first image, or images in some rare occasions, on an article should be the full name of the article subject. This should apply to all pages.
- If you really need an example, take a look at the page for Simon Jarrett or Catherine Chun:
Simon Jarrett.png- Catherine Chun.png
- For an example of an article with more than one main image, look at the article for the ARK:
- ARK.png
- Haimatsu ZA-X2 Experimental Module.svg
Naming gallery images
When uploading images to the gallery, try to give them descriptive names. It is also recommended to treat image names as proper names, capitalizing them as such, in order to keep image names consistent.
- For example, here's some names you might choose for an image of Terry Akers:
- 282140 screenshots 2015-09-23 00003.png
- 0352305239WAFIOWAI.png
- spooky.png
- akers being classy.png
- Terry Akers in Theta.png
- Terry Akers chasing Simon.png
Ripped images
Ripped images are photos which are taken or pulled straight from the game's files. This is usually done to get the highest possible quality photos, especially for things such as in-game documents or photos.
There does however need to be restrictions on how ripped images are used. Remember that just because it's pulled from the files doesn't mean it'll surpass in-game screenshots.
Some things that should absolutely be ripped are...
- Textures of in-game documents
- Textures of any other in-game images or photos.
Some things we don't need however are...
- Texture files for 3D models, there's no reason to have those on the wiki.
- Giant pieces of geometry (BSPs). We don't need a giant, full bright image of the Abyss or of any of the sites' interiors/exteriors.
Redundant images
Avoid adding redundant photos - we don't need to see 3+ photos of the same entity under different conditions nor do we need to see it from various angles. This rule is weakened slightly if the images in question depict the entity doing various functions, but it is still discouraged for the most part.
If you do end up having two similar photos for a justified reason, put each one beside the other and caption the second one with "Ditto" or "Ditto, except doing something else.".