If you read all this and decide it's too much work, that is A-okay! You can always shoot me an ask with a topic or article title that you'd like me to post from. Now, with all of that out of the way, let's get started.

1. Choose an image

Maybe you want to contribute, but you don't have a specific image in mind and aren't quite sure what to look for. Not to worry, there are plenty of ways to find something you like! If you have an image picked out already, perfect--you can skip past the next 3 bullet points.

Wikipedia Main Page - This is a great place to start! There are a variety of daily topics and images that can help spur your imagination ("Today's featured picture", "On this day", "Did you know...", etc.) Just click on one and start exploring!

Wikipedia app (Google Play and iOS) - Wikipedia's app is great for reading and has a variety of features that are designed to help you explore new content. In particular, the "Random Article" feature located on the homepage will help you discover topics, people, and places that you have probably never heard of before. Personally, this is my favorite feature to use when I'm not feeling particularly imaginative, and I utilize it a lot when I'm mass-queueing posts.

Wikimedia Commons - Just searching Commons is great when you basically know what you're looking for but haven't decided on anything specific. Or maybe you find an article on a topic that really interests you, but it doesn't have pictures or the pictures aren't good examples of the topic. Chances are, searching Commons for the subject you want will get you some great results. Some of the best posts I have here are photos that I (or my followers) found by just searching Commons until I saw something I liked!

Before moving on, please check if I have posted your photo before! Statistically it isn't very likely, as there are nearly 100 million photos on Commons, but I have posted many photos from popular articles and commonly searched categories. I tag pretty aggressively, so you should be able to find what you are looking for by utilizing the search function on my blog. For example, if you wanted to submit an image from the Wikipedia article titled "Moon", searching that keyword on my blog will get you these results.

I reserve the right to not post any submissions that I recieve. I haven't had to veto anything yet, but as a rule I won't post any overtly sexual or NSFW content.

2. Saving your photos from Wikimedia Commons

No matter where you found your image, you will need to save the original file that is hosted on Wikimedia Commons. I know this is a bit confusing, but bear with me! Chances are, the photo you see in the article has been compressed. By going back to the source file on Commons, you can save the highest resolution version and locate the photo description that was posted with it, which you will need for the next steps. Here are step-by-step instructions on how to do that on desktop/mobile browser and the app.

If you found your photo by searching Commons, just click/tap the "More details" button located at the very bottom of the expanded view of your image and follow steps 3-4.

Desktop/mobile browser:

1. Go to your article of choice and left-click or tap on the image you wish to use.

2. Left-click or tap on the "More details" button on the bottom right hand side of the page. On the mobile site it will just say "Details".

3. You are now viewing the file preview. Underneath the image, left-click or tap on the link that says "Original file" (highest resolution).

4. You are now viewing the full-resolution Wikimedia Commons file. Right-click or hold down on the image to save it to your computer/camera roll. You can now move on to the next section!

App (I have iOS, but it should be the same on Android OS):

1. Go to your article of choice and tap on the image you want.

2. Tap or double-tap the information icon in the bottom right hand corner (circle with a lowercase “i” inside it). After this point, the steps are the same as 3-4 in the section above.

3. Formatting your submission

So you have a photo you want to submit, perfect! Now's the time to format your post. Start by opening a new submission and selecting your chosen photo fom your computer or phone camera roll. Take a quick look at what I have on my blog and you will notice a pattern of how I like to format things. There are a few important parts to consider: the caption title, the link, image description, and tags.

Caption title: if you are submitting a photo you sourced from an article, the post caption should be the title of the article. If the photo is not in an article, just use the file title that you see on Commons. Here is an example of a photo sourced from an article, and here is an example of a photo sourced from Commons. You might ask, "Well, why not just link everything from Commons if they all originate there?" The main reason is that I like providing context, which is what referencing the article does. Most photos on Commons arent in any articles, so there isn't an alternative.

Link: Same as with the caption, if you are sourcing from an article, link the article. If you are sourcing from Commons, link back to Commons. Please view the source links for the two posts I just mentioned in the previous bullet point to see what I mean.

Description: ALWAYS use the description from the original file as it appears on Wikimedia Commons, regardless of where you sourced the image. This is because an image description in a Wikipedia article can be changed to anything the editor wants independently of what the original file description said, and oftentimes those descriptions are wrong. You can find this description under the image when you are viewing the file on Commons; just copy and paste the description into the body of the submission underneath the linked caption and finish it off with " - via Wikimedia Commons". If this description is the same as the file title or only slightly different (like in the moon post linked above) feel free to leave it out.

Tags: You don't have to tag with relevant tags if you don't want to, though it definietly helps. The automatic tags are sufficient and you've already contributed a lot just by choosing to submit!