Commons:Valued images

Valued images are images which are considered especially valuable by the Commons community for use in online content within other Wikimedia projects. A valued image is considered to be the most valued illustration of its kind by the Commons community.

Purpose

Valued Image links:

The valued images project sets out to identify and encourage users' efforts in providing valuable images of high diversity and usability, and to build up a resource for editors from other Wikimedia projects seeking such images for use online. The project also provides recognition to contributors who have made an effort to contribute images of difficult subjects which are very hard or impossible to obtain.

Difference between valued images, quality images, and featured pictures

The quality images project aims to identify and encourage users who provide images of high technical quality to Commons. Featured pictures are the cream of the crop at Commons and the project is reserved for images of both extraordinary value and technical quality.

Valued images, on the other hand, are those that are the most valuable of their kind for use in an online context, within other Wikimedia projects. The technical requirements for valued images are typically much lower, as there is no concern about suitability for print usage. A built-in camera in a modern mobile phone should be sufficient if the subject is of high value and the photo illustrates it well at a viewing size of 480×360 pixels or equivalent. Valued images are less about technical quality and more about your ingenuity in finding good and valuable subjects which matter, and about the usability of the information on the image page.

This historic photograph of the construction of the Manhattan Bridge was the first valued image to be promoted on June 8, 2008.
An image can be considered valued within more than one scope. This photograph, for instance, is valued within the scopes The Kaaba and Tawaf.

Examples of promoted valued images

Akan Gold Weight, Soleil - Representation of the sun
Villa Gabès Toulouse - Facade
Bagrati Cathedral - bell tower. Kutaisi, Imereti, Georgia. View from N-W.
Exterior of Marriott's Grand Chateau

Eligibility

Promoted valued images
Year-month		Images
2024-09	95
2024-08	303
2024-07	263
2024-06	301
2024-05	312
2024-04	283
2024-03	288
2024-02	206
2024-01	296
2023-12	256
2023-11	276
2023-10	304
2023-09	298

All images on Commons are eligible to be nominated as a valued image, be they photographs, animations, schemes, diagrams, charts, scans, symbols, computer renderings, and whether original or derivative work. Documents, spreadsheets, presentations, scores, sound and video files do not fall within the remit of the valued images project.

Procedure

Valued image candidates can be nominated and reviewed on the valued image candidates page. The same page can be used for nominating and reviewing sets of images as valued image sets.

Judging is carried out by the Commons Community according to the valued image criteria.

Promoted images and sets

There are currently 48,938 images marked as valued images, which is roughly 0.045% of the available images (108,480,799), and 283 valued image sets. See also;