How To Download Images From Wikipedia

Wikipedia Logo

People download images from the internet all the time and use them in a variety of ways. If you plan to use an image in any way related to making money you need to be sure you have a right to use that image in the way you plan—or there can be financial or legal consequences. If you’re not using the image commercially there are many more usage options, but it’s still wise to understand all of an image’s usage terms to stay out of trouble. To learn more, google ”Can I use an image?”, and choose an authoritative source on on the subject.

If you aren’t interested in digging through a bunch of legal mumbo-jumbo to see if you can use an image in a homework assignment or presentation for your co-workers, Wikipedia can be a great source of images you can freely use on all subjects. Many of their images are in the public domain or have few restrictions. What’s more, Wikipedia makes it easy to find exactly how an image can be used, so you can avoid displaying images that might get you in trouble with the author or entity that owns it.

Quality counts when selecting images to make your point, and here size matters. Wikipedia images are often available in several sizes. Pick a size most appropriate for how you plan to use the image (Tip: You can always shrink a large image, but to preserve quality making an image larger is almost never a good idea). A second selection consideration is aspect ratio: width verses height. Sometimes where you need to place an image on a page requires a wide or tall aspect ratio, and cropping an image may not work to get what you need if it means chopping off something important.

Image size, quality and aspect ratio are important graphic design issues worth exploring in more depth if your grade or livelihood depends on clearly communicating. And while graphic design basics are largely the same, there are meaningful differences in how you produce online verses printed documents.

Keep that in mind as you follow these steps to download a single image you’ve found in a Wikipedia article. Here's a typical Wikipedia article about George Harrison of the Beatles:

Wikipedia Article

1. Click directly on the image - This displays the photo in Wikipedia’s Media Viewer.

Wikipedia Image in Media Viewer

2. Click the “More details” link - in the lower right corner to review image sizes available, license terms, image history and other relevant information).

3. Verify the usage terms, and verify you can use the image in the way you plan. If not, keep looking: there’s almost certainly something out there you can use. If not, you may need to purchase an image from one of the many commercial image sites on web. Prices and usage terms obviously vary, but there are plenty of great and affordable images out there.

Wikimedia Image: More Details - licensing

4. Below the image displayed is size information expressed in Pixels or dots-per-inch (the “dots” that make up your computer’s screen) as “width” by height” (width x height)—Just like photos taken with your camera that you then print in 8x10 or 5x7 inches, etc.). Click the link for the most appropriate image size.

Wikimedia Image: More Details - file sizes

5. Use your browser’s file download features to complete the download.

Typically this means moving your cursor over the image and right-clicking to bring up a list of options, like, “Copy Image”, “Save Image As”, “Email Image”, etc. Choose “Save Image As” (or the equivalent in your browser), and be sure to save it in an easy to find location on your computer (like your desktop or in a specific folder you’ve created to hold all files related to your project).

Firefox Browser "Right Click" Options

It’s a good idea to note the name of the image file you’re downloading because it may not have a recognizable name (Wikipedia image file names may simply be a number or an apparently random string of characters). For this reason I often change the name to something intuitive, and include the aspect ratio of the image in the name if I download multiple sizes—the latter comes in handy when you’re working on a project and need an image of a specific size and aspect ratio. Note too, that larger images will obviously take longer to download, and you'll need a fast enough connection when downloading really large images.

Here are some links to additional information about Wikipedia images, and using and finding images on the web.

See Also:
Wikimedia Commons is a database of freely usable media files that people contribute to. To simplify things, files come in 3 categories: Images, Sounds and Videos, each with many subcategories to help you find what you’re looking for.

Wikipedia: Ten things you may not know about images on Wikipedia.

Wikipedia: Images - More on Wikipedia's images.

How images are used in Wikipedia: Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Images.

Wikipedia: Finding images tutorial.

PhotoPin - A search tool for finding free photos for bloggers and creatives.

The Ultimate Student Guide to Images - One article, of the many out there, that explains the ins and outs of using imagery.

Infographic: Can I Use that Picture? - A useful infographic on image terms of use.

Paul Krugman on Republican Economics

Economist Paul Krugman

I'm amazed how relevent this 2015 article remains:

ARCHIVE: In 2008 before George Bush left office, in reaction to the economic meltdown his administration laid the groundwork for the bailout that Obama continued and expanded preventing another Great Depression and saving the US auto industry, among many other things. I'm not a fan of Bush, and even if you blame him for the crisis, clearly a government bailout was the correct response, and he deserves credit for doing the right thing, given that in almost every way you measure a countries economic success, the US economy has recovered.

Though there's still plenty to do to create more jobs, more economic equality and more opportunity, things are far better today than many of us expected. I for one, was sure we were heading into another Great Depression, because inexplicably Republicans, once Bush left office, did everything possible to undermine what Bush had started and Obama was following through on. I mean virtually everything Republicans predicted and complained about was wrong. Every Obama action they slowed or blocked (like creating hundreds of thousands of jobs to fix our roads, bridges, schools, the power grid, etc.) literally slowed the recovery and hurt average Americans. It's a fact (almost a miracle, actually) that over unprecidented Republican opposition and obstruction—to every action the Obama administration proposed—a depression was prevented and we have steadilly recovered.

Even today, contrary to all the economic evidence available to anyone who cares to look, Republicans continue to erroneously claim our economy is a mess that only they can fix, if we just let them drive for the next 4 years. In the Fox News debate, when anything of economic substance was discussed, these false Republican claims were loudly repeated, and tired, discredited "Trickle-Down" economic policies were proposed as if we haven't seen these exact policies fail time and again during the Bush years, and currently in several Republican controled states, like Kansas.

So whether or not you understand economics, whether or not you like or trust Obama and Democrats, know that Republicans worked tirelessly to prevent the recovery and they continue to misrepresent the undeniable economic progress made under Obama, so they can scare you into voting for them next year.

As usual, Paul Krugman describes the situation as only he can, with facts and wit.

Our Cat, The Donald

We had no choice, we HAD to Trump the cat!

Coming soon: We Trump the dog—if she agrees!

The Koben - one very cool ride!

ARCHIVED: I met Neal Saiki, a former NASA engineer just about a Year ago. Neal designed bicycles for Santa Cruz Bicycles, and then went on to found Zero Motorcycles, an electric motorcycle company near Santa Cruz. He's since moved on to electric bicycles at a new startup, Karmic Bikes, bringing together key elements of his previous two ventures.

A really well designed electric bike

If you like riding bicycles, but dread climbing hills, or having to make your way back home after a long ride, you really must take a look at what Neal and the folks at Karmic have come up with. Whatever you thought you knew about electric bicycles—the typical heavy, high-priced, weird looking monstrosities—guess again. Their Koben is a sleek, beautiful "peddle assist" electric bicycle, designed from the ground up.

And by peddle assist, I mean you peddle and it assists. So the riding experience is that of any bicycle, but easy: hilly roads seem flatter, and long rides seem shorter. And by changing the degree of assist, you get to decide how flat and how short. Neal put me on one of his prototypes when I visited his shop on a long hilly country road in the Santa Cruz mountains, and it was just like riding, well, a bicycle, except the not insignificant uphill leg was just as enjoyable as the downhill. I didn't even break a sweat.

Read about electric bicycles, and what's so interesting about the Koben and Karmic's approach. As an old mechanic and engineer, I truly appreciate their design and the level of innovation in these machines. But the real beauty in what they've done is to create a bicycle for people who have always loved riding bicycles, who just want to enjoy the ride.

Male Idiot Theory (with a serious TLA)

I love scholarly papers on inane and irreverent subjects. Here's one on Male Idiot Theory (MIT) that hypothesizes that "men are idiots and idiots do stupid things". As a man I can bemoan the idea of such a theory, but the evidence is overwhelming, and facts are facts: Darwinism rewards stupidity, and men just keep on reaping their rewards (Thanks: BMJ 2014;349:g7094).

How to Create a Peace Sign of Any Size

Peace Signs represent peace and unity Peace at any scale requires planning proportional to the problem. When symbolism represents unity, faithfully reproducing this icon is important and entails precision. Wikipedia's Peace Sign offers a great example. 

With dimensions, right-sizing a perfectly proportioned Peace Sign is easy.

Can a symbol really change anything?

For the perfect Peace Sign at any scale, simply replace “Units” with the appropriate length measurement for the job: centimeters, feet, meters, miles, kilometers, nanometres, parsecs—the choice is yours.

When it comes to peace, size definitely matters. Please go big!

Inherent Vice - a movie that goes where exactly?

ARCHIVED: Anyone for "Inherent Vice"?—a movie of sorts, that sets a new standard for fluid and incomprehensible. It's a rare film where the trailer flows in a straighter line than the flick itself.

Joaquin Phoenix in charactor 

But then we're talking a weed whacking '70s LA backdrop, and Paul Thomas Anderson, who apparently placed, end-to-end, a string of semi-non sequiturs and hazy imagery, that like a traffic accident, can't easily be ignored.

Leaving the theater dazed and confused I sought insight from a more clear-headed source and found the following New Yorker review both insightful and comforting. Before reading it, I too had imagined Inherent Vice somewhat reminiscent of "American Hustle" and Altman's "The Long Goodbye", which wasn't a period piece, but more quirky gem of its period. The review, and others, explained a lot—I suggest giving it and the ghost-of-Ebert review a look before heading off to the theater.

Starting with Joaquin Phoenix, sporting early Joe Cocker mutton chops and hairstyle, the cast is an eclectic assortment of new and familiar notable odd-balls, like Owen Wilson, Benicio del Toro, Martin Short, Eric Roberts, and traditionally less out there players like Reese Witherspoon and Josh Brolin. All do their part to make us wonder if this is just what the early '70s looked and sounded like, or if something isn't quite right because everyone involved was actually stoned throughout the production. Maybe a bit of both; I can't really say.

Clearly this film is not for everyone. But after seeing it you may agree that it's a wild ride to somewhere, even if you're not entirely sure to where.