Wikinews:Writing a Photo essay
- See also: Wikinews:Writing a photo essay
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This is an essay on using and contributing to Wikinews. The contents are strongly recommended practices, but may not be enforced official policy; however, they may supplement, comment upon, or offer guidance to interpreting official policy. Links to official policies can be found in the Wikinews introduction. |
This is an essay, recommended rather than official policy; it may be useful to assist in the practical application of policy. |
Introduction |
Policies and guidelines |
While Wikinews features a variety of content, the project's mainstay is the classic news article. However, wiki tools are ideally suited to constructing an article with the primary focus on photographs instead of text. This short essay is intended to guide people through the process of creating such an article. There is considerably less need to be intimately familiar with the style guide. Perhaps most critically, it is no longer required to write out the three paragraphs usually viewed as the minimum for an article, although you must still explain the context in which the photographs were taken as readers are not expected to know, regardless of how 'big' the event might be.
Key points from the more generalised essay on article construction still apply, namely:
- Articles must be timely. They are never backdated to match an event, and the event they cover should be within the last few days.
- Articles go through three stages, {{develop}} while the piece is constructed and formatted; {{review}} when the article is, in your opinion, good enough to be published; lastly, {{publish}} when the article has been checked by a contributor who the community has granted review privileges to and passed.
- The neutral point of view policy is non-negotiable.
Examples
[edit]Before starting, it might be helpful to look at some already published photoessays on wikinews (keeping in mind, older articles may not meet current review standards, including image copyright policy):
- There are currently 104 articles in Category:Photo essays.
- 17 February 2025: Russian travel writer Viktor Pinchuk presents book Third African trip in Bakhchysarai, Crimea
- 17 February 2025: Holyday of wandering mzungu, presentation of the book by Russian adventurer took place in the Crimean capital
- 17 February 2025: Citizen journalist, Viktor Pinchuk — gives travel presentation in Sevastapol
- 17 February 2025: Exhibition featuring ethnic music from around the world opens in Crimea
- 17 February 2025: The Ancient Pyramids of the World, a new photo exhibition by Viktor Pinchuk took place in Crimea
- 17 February 2025: Coolum to host Grand Final of Tier 1 women's cricket final on Australia's Sunshine Coast
- 17 February 2025: Russian photographer Viktor Pinchuk presents nude album NUances of fantasy
- 17 February 2025: Russian travel writer Viktor Pinchuk presents book Japan for free in Simferopol, Crimea
- 17 February 2025: Russian travel writer Viktor Pinchuk presents book Indian dreams in Sevastopol, Crimea
- 17 February 2025: Brothers Sunshine Coast pick up first win in senior rugby at Australia's University of the Sunshine Coast
- 17 February 2025: Ballarat residents protest for climate action
- 17 February 2025: Fur fans flock to Toronto's Furnal Equinox 2019
- 17 February 2025: Toronto's Anime North 2019 brings thousands of fans together
- 17 February 2025: Dublin Pride 2018 attracts tens of thousands of people
- 17 February 2025: In Pictures: Helsinki Pride 2018 ends after record number of attendees
- 17 February 2025: London Pride organisers apologise after protestors interrupt parade
- 17 February 2025: First-ever Dublin Trans Pride attracts hundreds
- 17 February 2025: Total lunar eclipse occurs in July 2018
- 17 February 2025: 40th Berlin Christopher Street Day celebration attracts thousands: in pictures
- 17 February 2025: 22nd annual ILGA-Europe conference meets in Brussels: in pictures
- 17 February 2025: In pictures: thousands attend 16th annual Taiwan Pride
- 17 February 2025: Wikinews attends 2018 Bangalore ComicCon
- 17 February 2025: Culture of creativity features at Furnal Equinox 2018
- 17 February 2025: Belgian LGBT refuge shelter announced during annual Brussels Pride
- 17 February 2025: Photo report: Anime North convention brings fans to Toronto
- 17 February 2025: Wikinews attends ComicCon in Bangalore, India
- 17 February 2025: For fans, by fans: Toronto anime event 2017 among continent's largest
- 17 February 2025: Fans unite at Toronto Comicon, meet Degrassi stars
- 17 February 2025: Thousands march in London calling for David Cameron's resignation over tax affairs
- 17 February 2025: Pop culture celebrated at Fan Expo Canada 2016 in Toronto
- 17 February 2025: Vietnam's Le Van Cong wins gold in men's -49kg powerlifting at Rio Paralympics
- 17 February 2025: Reflections, Lichtenstein, two new exhibitions at Edinburgh's Modern One
- 17 February 2025: Millions march in France and around the world in support of Charlie Hebdo
- 17 February 2025: Edinburgh's 'Million Mask March' flies distinctly Scottish colours
- 17 February 2025: Noosa win 2014 Sunshine Coast Rugby Union premiership
- 17 February 2025: Wikinews wanders the Referendum-year Edinburgh Festival Fringe
- 17 February 2025: University defeat Maroochydore in round 14 of 2014 Sunshine Coast Rugby Union season
- 17 February 2025: Small protest seeking justice for victims of Franco held in Madrid
- 17 February 2025: Anti-budget protest descends on Brisbane Australia
- 17 February 2025: University defeat Caloundra in first round of 2014 Sunshine Coast Rugby Union season
- 17 February 2025: University defeat Toads in 2014 Sunshine Coast Rugby Union round two
- 17 February 2025: Glasgow cannabis enthusiasts celebrate 'green' on city green
- 17 February 2025: Docudays UA eleventh edition opens
- 17 February 2025: Russia Crimean action protests held outside Downing Street in London
- 17 February 2025: Eleventh Docudays UA concludes
- 17 February 2025: Crash Test Hunniez defeat Devotchkas in Roller Derby contest
- 17 February 2025: Preparations underway for start of 2014 Winter Paralympics
- 17 February 2025: Winter Paralympics Opening Ceremony takes place in Sochi
- 17 February 2025: Canada routs Sweden in sledge hockey at Winter Paralympics
- 17 February 2025: Ukraine's Lyudmyla Pavlenko wins gold in 2014 Winter Paralympics
- 17 February 2025: Embassies across London lower their flags in honour of Nelson Mandela
- 17 February 2025: Fundosa ONCE defeats Servigest Burgos 80-20 in Spain's top wheelchair basketball league
- 17 February 2025: Atlético de Madrid defeats Real Madrid 1-0 in 2013 derby
- 17 February 2025: Diego Costa scores Atlético Madrid's winning goal against Real Madrid
- 17 February 2025: 2013 Autumn Old and Antique Bookfair continues in Madrid
- 17 February 2025: Coastal Assassins get wins at roller derby event on Australia's Sunshine Coast
- 17 February 2025: Australian solar racing team parades at Sydney campus send-off
- 17 February 2025: Pride in London 2013: in pictures
- 17 February 2025: San Fermín de los Navarros church in Madrid celebrates patron day
- 17 February 2025: Nineteenth Maccabiah Games open in Jerusalem
- 17 February 2025: Ninth World Games open in Santiago de Cali, Colombia
- 17 February 2025: Noosa get bonus point win against Nambour in round 18 of Sunshine Coast Rugby Union
- 17 February 2025: Uni defeat Nambor as 2013 Sunshine Coast Rugby Union season ends
- 17 February 2025: Maroochydore win 2013 Sunshine Coast Rugby Union Grand Final
- 17 February 2025: Maroochydore defeat University in week five of Sunshine Coast Rugby Union
- 17 February 2025: Caloundra defeat Nambour 24-10 in week seven of Sunshine Coast Rugby Union
- 17 February 2025: Noosa defeat University in Sunshine Coast Rugby Union round nine
- 17 February 2025: 'Cartoons country' festival in Moscow: in pictures
- 17 February 2025: Noosa defeat Caloundra in Sunshine Coast Rugby Union round seventeen
- 17 February 2025: Record snowfall in Japan: in pictures
- 17 February 2025: Dust storm covers Tokyo: in pictures
- 17 February 2025: Canberrans spend Easter outside: in pictures
- 17 February 2025: Thousands take to streets protesting 'ratbag's Bedroom Tax
- 17 February 2025: Real Madrid defeats Sevilla 4-1 in La Liga play
- 17 February 2025: Spain starts 2013 IPC Alpine World Championships with first and fifth place finishes
- 17 February 2025: Australian skiers compete at IPC Nor-Am Cup Super G
- 17 February 2025: Canadian skiers compete at IPC Nor-Am Cup Super G
- 17 February 2025: Japanese skiers compete at IPC Nor-Am Cup Super G
- 17 February 2025: Australia takes podium for standing men's giant slalom on second day of 2012 IPC NorAm Cup
- 17 February 2025: Twelve countries compete on second day of 2012 Nor-Am Cup
- 17 February 2025: 2012 Paralympic Village occupied by competitors as nations ready for the Games
- 17 February 2025: Australians make Paralympic Village uniquely their own
- 17 February 2025: Canadians express optimism regarding medal potential at 2012 Summer Paralympics
- 17 February 2025: Turkey men's wheelchair basketball team practices ahead of 2012 Summer Paralympics
- 17 February 2025: Paralympic cyclists test out the London Velodrome
- 17 February 2025: Australia and South Africa men's national wheelchair basketball teams play in their 2012 Paralympics opener
- 17 February 2025: Day two of Paralympic judo underway in London
- 17 February 2025: Paralympics GB finishes 5-a-side football in seventh place at Paralympics
- 17 February 2025: WorldPride London 2012: In pictures
- 17 February 2025: Queensland state election shorts: January 30, 2012
- 17 February 2025: In pictures: Japan earthquake and tsunami
- 17 February 2025: Chilean earthquakes in the O'Higgins Region: photoessay
- 17 February 2025: Building collapses, leaving four dead in Hong Kong
- 17 February 2025: Chilean earthquakes: in pictures
- 17 February 2025: Haitian earthquake: in pictures
- 17 February 2025: Fanime convention winds down in San Jose, California
- 17 February 2025: Wikinews visits the 2008 Reno Air Races
- 17 February 2025: Wikinews international report: "Anonymous" holds anti-Scientology protests worldwide
- 17 February 2025: Photo Essay: Cherry Blossoms Bloom in DC
- 17 February 2025: Photo essay: Valentine's Day at the U.S. Viet Nam War Memorial
- 17 February 2025: Photoessay: Fat Tuesday Easy in DC
- 17 February 2025: Photoessay: The Idiotarod: When Good Shopping Carts Go Bad
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Headline
[edit]All articles need a title. For detailed instructions on how to choose a title, see the style guide, but in general there are a couple of key points to remember:
- Titles should be downstyle, which means that only proper nouns should be capitalised. Example: Fanime convention winds down in San Jose, California is correct, but Fanime Convention Winds Down in San Jose, California is not acceptable per the style guide.
- Use the present tense. Fanime convention winds down in San Jose, California not Fanime convention wound down in San Jose, California
- Write the most important, or unique thing about the article in question
- Try to use the active voice. Leader goes to shop is much better than Shop visited by leader.
Remember, titles can be changed. If you have a problem renaming an article you are working on, leave a note on the talk page with the {{flag}} or {{editprotected}} templates to call in help. Do explain what your preferred title is.
Lede
[edit]All articles start with a date template. This date reflects when the article is published (which may or may not be when the event took place). Generally:
{{date|February 19, 2025}}
{{date|{{subst:#time:F j, Y}}}}
The second form will automatically get turned into the first form when you save the page.
In most normal articles an infobox is used. These can interfere with the presentation of a photoessay, best to avoid.
You should write your introduction as soon as possible. Since you are writing a photoessay, this need not be the length of a normal article. However, you still must address the 5W and H (Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How) of your story. The introduction should also give context to the photos in your article — for an international audience. Its important that the audience know what the photos are about, and why the photographs are important or noteworthy. The introduction should also tell the reader what news event the essay is focused on. Remember that a photoessay is not just a random gallery of photos; it is also a news article, which must be reporting some specific event.
The photos
[edit]Uploading
[edit]One of the goals of Wikinews, is to allow information to be dispersed, reused, modified, &c. (See the Wikipedia article on the Free Culture Movement for more information on the philosophical underpinnings). To this end, if you contribute to Wikinews, you must allow anyone to copy and modify your photos in their own derivative works. We use the website Wikimedia Commons to host our photos. As long as you have a unified account (See Special:MergeAccount to get one), your Wikinews login should work at Commons too (As well as Wikipedia, Wikibooks, and several other sites).
To upload an image at commons visit Commons:Upload and follow the instructions. Please make sure to give your images descriptive names (Dog_at_the_park_in_london_england.jpg is much more useful than picture012312142.jpg) and that you upload the highest resolution possible. If you are unsure if you did this correctly, feel free to ask a Wikinewsie in the chatroom (IRC).
Once your file is uploaded, you should be able to use it anywhere on Wikinews (and in several other places)
Note: if you wish to upload fair use/dealing images (which should not be used in photoessays) see Wikinews:Fair use.
Adding to your article
[edit]- See also mw:help:Images
Normal images
[edit]All of these examples will use File:example.jpg. It should also be noted that you can prefix your images with Image: (Image:Example.jpg and File:example.jpg are equivalent).
The easiest way to add an image to your article is as follows
[[File:Example.jpg|thumb|right|300px|An example image.]]

Which places the image on the right:
The first part File:Example.jpg
specifies the image name. Then comes thumb
, which specifies it should have a caption. Next is right
, meaning it should be on the right of the screen (As opposed to say the left side, or centered). Then comes the size. 300px
means that the image will be resized to be 300 pixels wide. Last is the caption. It can contain links, bold text, etc using normal wiki markup. If the image comes from elsewhere, credit to the original author should be added to this caption (if you are the original author, such credit is optional). Credit lines are added as follows (see image on left):
[[file:Example.jpg|thumb|left|300px|An example image.{{image credit|[http://example.com An example photographer]}}]]

Image: An example photographer.
Galleries
[edit]Galleries are a way to display several images. Example:
<gallery> File:Example.png|An example image File:Example.svg|Another example File:Example.jpg File:718Smile.svg|A caption with a [[w:link|link]]. </gallery>
Makes this:
-
An example image
-
Another example
-
A caption with a link.
This allows user to see a summary of the images available, and then they can click on them to see larger versions. However since your article is primarily about the pictures, you may want to have bigger thumbnails:
<gallery widths='200px' heights='200px' perrow='2'> File:Example.png|An example image File:Example.svg|Another example File:Example.jpg File:718smiley.svg|A caption with a [[w:link|link]]. </gallery>
Makes:
-
An example image
-
Another example
-
A caption with a link.
widths correspond to the widths of each box a picture takes up, heights corresponds to the height. Note, it is important to set both. perrow specifies the number of images per row. Last of all, you can also specify a caption for your gallery. You might use this to separate your gallery into different sections. (Note: you cannot use wikiformating in your caption with exception to links).
<gallery caption="Some ''Examples''"> File:Example.png|An example image File:Example.svg|Another example File:Example.jpg File:718smiley.svg|A caption with a [[w:link|link]]. </gallery>
- Some Examples
-
An example image
-
Another example
-
A caption with a link.
image chooser ({{Picture select}})
[edit]This is a method to display the images one at a time. For example
{{picture select|width=210px |[[File:Example.png|200px|center|An example image (Alt text for blind/text browsers/tooltip)]] <br/>An Example Image (Caption for everyone) |[[File:Example.svg|200px|center|Another example]] Another example |[[File:Example.jpg|center|200px|]] |[[File:718smiley.svg|center|200px|]] }}
makes:
The overall width parameter is the width of the whole box. This should be a little bit bigger than the image width, or the border will be crunched. This template can support a large number of images. In addition the tabs can change from being numbers to being any arbitrary text. For a complex example see the page source of Wikinews:Picture_of_the_Year_2008/round_1#Candidates. For more information on this template, see its documentation.
Ticker slideshow
[edit]I'm adding this for completeness, but you probably should not use this on your article unless you're really sure its a good idea.
It's possible to create a picture slideshow on your article. For example:
{{ticker|engine=none|speed=1.5|multiple=first |options=Ticker_strLeft-%00 Ticker_strLinkText-%00 Ticker_strRight-%00 |customSrc= *[[File:Example.png|200px|An example image (Alt text for blind/text browsers/tooltip)]] An Example Image (Caption for everyone) *[[File:Example.svg|200px|Another example]] Another example *[[File:Example.jpg|200px|]] *[[File:718smiley.svg|200px|]] }}
Creates:
engine=none
specifies no transition (other choice is fade). speed=1.5
specifies 1.5x speed (you'd probably want it much slower on an article). Note it's somewhat disorienting if the images change height. To work arround this, either make all the images the same height, or wrap each image in a div that has a specific height set. For example (using the fade transition):
<div style="heiht:230px;"> {{ticker|engine=none|multiple=other |options=Ticker_strLeft-%00 Ticker_strLinkText-%00 Ticker_strRight-%00 |customSrc= *[[File:Example.png|200px|An example image (Alt text for blind/text browsers/tooltip)]] An Example Image (Caption for everyone) *[[File:Example.svg|200px|Another example]] Another example *[[File:Example.jpg|200px|]] *[[File:718smiley.svg|200px|]] }} </div>
makes:
Which, as you'll notice, does not bounce arround the text below it. It should be noted the fade transition is not as well tested. See {{ticker}} for more information.
Sources
[edit]Last of all, don't forget to cite your sources. All information you add to the article must be sourced. If you came about your information through original reporting (for example, by asking people questions at the event), remember to tag your article with {{original}} and add notes to the talk page. See Wikinews:Original reporting for details on procedures involving original reporting.