Commons talk:Photo challenge/themes

archive (already used themes) archive (rejected themes)

How to use this page The purpose of this page is to propose and discuss proposed themes for the monthly Commons photo challenge. When choosing new themes, the organizers look here for proposals, usually with the highest level of support. Before proposing a new theme, look in the archives to get a general idea of what kind of proposals were successful before. If scheduled at enough distance, new proposals can be similar to already used themes, or to previously rejected proposals. When creating a new section for each theme suggestion, follow the alphabetical order, include a gallery of example images and include a signature below the gallery. Please vote or comment on other users’ proposals. Use {{Support}}, {{Oppose}} and {{Comment}} ( Support,  Oppose and  Comment) and add your response at the end of the section. Please add Commons talk:Photo challenge to your watchlist and participate in the monthly discussions about future challenge themes. Before archiving a proposal as rejected, leave a last reminder. We value all your feedback and input. Thank you!

	SpBot archives all sections tagged with {{Section resolved|1=~~~~}} after 1 day. For the archive overview, see /Archive. The latest archive is located at /Archive/2026.

Archives Archive, 2016, 2017,2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 rejected themes

Aerial photograph

A technique that may be easy to learn, hard to master. But as drones have an increasingly important role in our lives, let's do a challenge for such photographs. Commons:Aerial photography may be interesting to read for some info.

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 Support as proposer --Wikisquack (talk) 22:12, 30 November 2025 (UTC)

 Support There's lots of aerial photos but for lots of subjects some are missing and also it would probably be good if Commons photographers were facilitated to better learn to use drones and/or to use them more often. Prototyperspective (talk) 11:09, 10 December 2025 (UTC)

 Support We've already had drone photography, but taking pictures while flying in the air is something slightly different. --Jacek79 (talk) 16:23, 31 January 2026 (UTC)

Just a note: drone photographs are included here and the proposal description even sounds like it was only for these. Btw, I guess one could also have some themes multiple times or themes that largely overlap with an earlier theme. Prototyperspective (talk) 19:59, 31 January 2026 (UTC)

Then I would exclude UAV photos explicitly. Jacek79 (talk) 15:24, 16 February 2026 (UTC)

In that case, I'd change my support to an oppose one. Prototyperspective (talk) 15:26, 16 February 2026 (UTC)

 Oppose While the subject is very interesting, it seems to me that aerial photography is aimed at a very limited number of photographers, and this definition therefore could not be open to everyone.Ibex73 (talk) 20:47, 13 December 2025 (UTC)

There's always two topics so those who can't participate here, can still participate in the other challenge. Prototyperspective (talk) 20:59, 13 December 2025 (UTC)

True, I think making it at least a two-months challenge may be worth it. Wikisquack (talk) 11:48, 8 January 2026 (UTC)

I agree. though Prototyperspective does have a point Julie Crowell (talk) 19:51, 28 February 2026 (UTC)

Bokeh "quality of blur"

Category:Bokeh is a stunning photographic technique which captures the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in the out-of-focus parts of an image. It can be used indoors or out, in any season, around the world. Even cellphones can do bokeh. Magnolia677 (talk) 14:45, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

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•  Support as proposer -- Magnolia677 (talk) 12:39, 3 January 2026 (UTC)
•  Support -- F. Riedelio • 💬 14:28, 13 February 2026 (UTC)
•  Support -- Akkbula (talk) 16:58, 22 February 2026 (UTC)

Fair Ground

Images of various fair rides eg: big Wheel...colours...tents games of chance /luck...food wagons...camps of fair ground staff,realistic portrayal of the hard work to create a useable canvas of the imaginary and escape from the daily grind to bring joy... Picture2025 (talk) 17:10, 25 July 2025 (UTC)

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•  Support I like the idea and created a gallery --Kritzolina (talk) 08:22, 2 August 2025 (UTC)

Thank you for your reply...really enjoyed your gallery..thought provoking ! Picture2025 (talk) 09:08, 2 August 2025 (UTC)

•  Strong support This's an exciting theme --Junyu-K (talk) 19:16, 14 August 2025 (UTC)

  Great, A juxtaposition of sounds , smells, shapes, colours, distortions an abundance of inspiration to try to capture in an image...thank you Picture2025 (talk) 14:37, 15 August 2025 (UTC)

•  Support --Jarekt (talk) 19:00, 1 November 2025 (UTC)
•  Support --Wikisquack (talk) 21:52, 30 November 2025 (UTC)
•  Support -- F. Riedelio • 💬 17:28, 13 February 2026 (UTC)
•  Support Анастасия Львова^ru/en 21:29, 28 February 2026 (UTC)

Flagpole holder

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This architectural detail can be extremely varied, and does not seem to be well represented on Wikimedia Commons. Анастасия Львова^ru/en 16:19, 4 July 2025 (UTC)

•  Support Thank you for this suggestion! --Kritzolina (talk) 17:53, 4 July 2025 (UTC)
•  Support Like it. -- Екатерина Борисова (talk) 02:22, 30 July 2025 (UTC)
•  Oppose pretty irrelevant/unimportant and many photos already. Prototyperspective (talk) 12:38, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

  Unimportant? Many? Shame on you. Анастасия Львова^ru/en 13:52, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

•  Support EeSmile (talk) 20:30, 20 January 2026 (UTC)
•  Oppose --Msb (talk) 16:16, 8 February 2026 (UTC)
•  Oppose Too specific. There is also no Wikipedia article on this topic. -- F. Riedelio • 💬 06:49, 16 February 2026 (UTC)

Horizontal lines

We had diagonals and vertical lines. Both contests brought a nice mix of very different subjects. Let's try Horizontal lines.

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•  Support as proposer --Kritzolina (talk) 20:13, 11 February 2026 (UTC)
•  Support -- F. Riedelio • 💬 06:56, 16 February 2026 (UTC)
•  Support. S5A-0043🚎 06:56, 18 February 2026 (UTC)
•  Support -- Akkbula (talk) 19:23, 26 February 2026 (UTC)
•  Support Анастасия Львова^ru/en 21:29, 28 February 2026 (UTC)

Public elections

I am thiking of this theme, as the coming year will be an election year for my home country, Germany. But independently of this, it is a topic that is clearly educational and where we always can use more good images to illustrate articles about current political affairs.

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•  Support as proposer --Kritzolina (talk) 17:40, 28 December 2024 (UTC)
•  Weak opposeTo Make Photography about elections isn't easy in some countries such as Taiwan... --Junyu-K (talk) 14:03, 2 January 2025 (UTC)
•  Support --Jarekt (talk) 13:54, 2 January 2025 (UTC)
•  Neutral Although we need more pictures of elections, people should not put themselves in danger for this challenge -- Wikisquack (talk) 12:22, 12 January 2025 (UTC)

Oceanography

Until 2030 we are in the UN-decade of ocean science for sustainable development. This is a topic that not everyone can get pictures for, but for that reason we are also not covering a lot of things with photos yet. A photo challenge might be a good oppotunity to at least get some more interesting images.

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•  Support as proposer --Kritzolina (talk) 17:12, 13 November 2025 (UTC)
•  Support important subject and while there already are many files in that area, it's very gap-y and there's at least a chance some users will upload missing things that close gaps. I hope whether or not the file is covering something we don't already have good files about/of will play a role in the voting and in what people look to take photos(/videos) of. Prototyperspective (talk) 19:19, 13 November 2025 (UTC)
•  Support --Gower (talk) 16:57, 14 November 2025 (UTC)
•  Support -- Wikisquack (talk) 16:37, 15 November 2025 (UTC)

Outside in the city at night without a tripod

The theme in 2016 was Long exposure photography. Now I suggest the theme Outside in the city at night without a tripod, which requires different preparation, technique and way of photographing compared to the 2016 theme.

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Akkbula (talk) 09:41, 26 November 2025 (UTC)

You should put back the old text here in a comment. Wikisquack (talk) 19:31, 26 November 2025 (UTC)

Public transport

While we have a lot of good images of trains, buses and other forms of public transport are often not well represented on commons. Let's see what we can get.

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•  Support as proposer --Kritzolina (talk) 21:10, 28 November 2024 (UTC)
•  Oppose I'm a fan of public transport but there are sheer terabytes of public transport media on here. This is way too broad. Maybe something more specific would be good, e.g. recharging of electric buses, bicycle transport in PT, public transport apps (nearly no media about that btw), . Prototyperspective (talk) 21:21, 28 November 2024 (UTC)

Getting too specific will not allow broad participation - e.g. bicycle transport in PT is limited to people who can take pictures in Portugal. And not many people know where they can take pictures of recharging electric buses - especially as the usage of e-buses is not widespread in some countries yet. As for the public transport apps > it is really difficult to take pictures of such apps without uploading copyrighted material. By making the theme broad, we have a good chance of capturing some images of either topics or places that need coverage. Kritzolina (talk) 06:40, 29 November 2024 (UTC)

e.g. bicycle transport in PT is limited to people who can take pictures in Portugal with PT I referred to public transport. By making the theme broad Nearly all people would just submit media of which we already have thousands of instances of and the best-looking ones of these would win. It could still be fairly broad but I don't know how, maybe by specifying which categories of public transport the challenge is about or something like public transport auxiliaries or how it's called if that's how one could classify these examples. Automated public transport could also do well with more media but there videos would probably be more suitable. There are also free software apps that lack media like Öffi. So as is I don't support the challenge but maybe there is a way to have a similar one which would be fairly constructive. Prototyperspective (talk) 10:14, 29 November 2024 (UTC)

What if we split this challenge up into multiple ones? Public transport feels indeed like a very wide topic to cover. On the other hand Electric road vehicle recharging also feels very narrow. What about if we narrow it down to one type of transportation (eg. bus, tram, ferry, etc.) or by operation base (eg. rubber based (aka everything with a tire like buses but also rickshaws), steel wheel based (trams, trains, metro, etc), water based (ship ferries, cable ferries, water bus ships, etc.). --D-Kuru (talk) 07:21, 18 August 2025 (UTC)

ADD: I just got another idea. What about limiting public transport to a certain time of day like night? --D-Kuru (talk) 20:44, 19 August 2025 (UTC)

•  Support --Jarekt (talk) 23:33, 1 December 2024 (UTC)
•  Support 沪A 05683D_S5A-0043 07:32, 7 December 2024 (UTC)
•  Support --F. Riedelio • 💬 16:05, 24 December 2024 (UTC)
•  Support -- Ibex73 (talk) 16:30, 30 December 2024 (UTC)
•  Support --KaiBorgeest (talk) 23:36, 22 February 2025 (UTC)
•  Oppose--Junyu-K (talk) 02:15, 23 February 2025 (UTC)
•  Support -- Gioele Serra (talk) 11:10, 3 March 2025 (UTC)
•  Oppose per Prototyperspective Анастасия Львова^ru/en 22:07, 7 April 2025 (UTC)
•  Oppose per above Wikisquack (talk)
•  Support --Gower (talk) 16:55, 14 November 2025 (UTC)
•  Support Ibex73 (talk) 20:51, 13 December 2025 (UTC)
•  Support --Msb (talk) 16:21, 8 February 2026 (UTC)
•  Oppose We've already had the subject Vehicles of public transport. --Jacek79 (talk) 18:06, 15 February 2026 (UTC)

Puddles

Weather here brings lots of puddles these days and this made me think this could be an interesting challenge. Puddles occur almost everywhere on earth, they often are overlooked as something banal, but many have hidden beauty - may it be because of reflections, an interesting colourscheme or bottom texture, things in the puddles and more. And many of us have some happy memories of splashing in puddles as children that we can revive through pictures.

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•  Support as proposer --Kritzolina (talk) 20:04, 26 June 2024 (UTC)
•  Support --FreCha (talk) 02:01, 1 August 2024 (UTC)
•  Support --F. Riedelio • 💬 07:07, 18 August 2024 (UTC)
•  Oppose Lots of photos already and limited usefulness and very low importance. --Prototyperspective (talk) 23:07, 2 September 2024 (UTC)
•  Support - Albarubescens 15:15, 3 November 2024 (UTC)
•  Oppose - How is it useful in any article or data? VasuVR (talk, contribs) 14:37, 26 March 2025 (UTC)

  Well we have articles about puddles in more than 40 language versions of Wikipedia for a start .. but those images can also be useful to illustrate landscapes, the climate of a certain region, an article about weather extremes, or - as we can see in the example images - articles about animal behavior, child play, motorcycles or sports events and even in articles about landmarks or heritage monuments. Kritzolina (talk) 18:02, 26 March 2025 (UTC)

  Themes do not have to be useful for Wikipedia articles. "The theme may be a concrete subject, an abstract concept, a photographic technique or artistic style." F. Riedelio • 💬 10:28, 27 March 2025 (UTC)

  Note that the user did not suggest it has to be useful for that, just that this is why they oppose this theme. Prototyperspective (talk) 12:55, 27 March 2025 (UTC)

  If it doesn't have to be useful, IMO that's no reason to reject it. F. Riedelio • 💬 13:18, 28 March 2025 (UTC)

•  Support well, there is one very special reason for puddles: they can be fun ;-) --PtrQs (talk) 23:09, 12 April 2025 (UTC)
•  Support -- Екатерина Борисова (talk) 02:30, 30 July 2025 (UTC)

Rephotography of Disasters

See Category:Rephotography. Including floods as proposed by Llann Wé² above. There is a media gap despite being interesting and of relevance due to climate change and general usefulness. It can be two separate photos, a video, a combined photo, etc. Before and/or during and/or afterwards. Examples of events: 2024 Spain floods.

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•  Support as proposer --Prototyperspective (talk) 19:31, 10 November 2024 (UTC)
•  Support Great idea! Lol! LW² \m/ ^{(Lie ² me...)} 23:05, 10 November 2024 (UTC)
•  Comment I would delete “a video” as this is a photo competition. --F. Riedelio • 💬 08:49, 11 November 2024 (UTC)

  Asked about videos above and it seems like those are or could be generally within scope with some challenges including videos. If not, then videos would also not be included here. Prototyperspective (talk) 11:45, 11 November 2024 (UTC)

•  Support--Junyu-K (talk) 08:13, 21 November 2024 (UTC)
•  Support -- Wikisquack (talk) 09:31, 1 May 2025 (UTC)
•  Support Highly educational -- It's moon (talk) 15:37, 6 March 2026 (UTC)

River mouths, confluences and deltas

I think it would be interesting to see the various ways rivers can end, along with the surrounding landscape, landmarks etc. -- Wagner Cxxx 19:54, 8 March 2024 (UTC)

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•  Support --Kritzolina (talk) 18:27, 13 March 2024 (UTC)
•  Support --FreCha (talk) 11:23, 27 August 2024 (UTC)

 Oppose Lots of river photos already. Would support a river issues/pollution challenge. For example see the empty Category:River deoxygenation cat relatively few files on Category:Public water quality measurement of rivers. Prototyperspective (talk) 23:13, 2 September 2024 (UTC)

While we have indeed lots of river photos, we are still missing pictures of lots of individual places. I think narrowing this challenge to the aspect of confluences and deltas has a good chance of bringing in pictures of places we are missing at the moment. And please feel free to create a challenge about those topics you find more important. Kritzolina (talk) 10:30, 22 September 2024 (UTC)

Good point, but the photos submitted in the challenge would be mostly good-looking photos of rivers, not of many places or rivers where there aren't any photos or of delta/…-related subjects of which there currently aren't many photos (and I kind of doubt there are any or many of such subjects).
I created one challenge where I think images would both be very useful and where there is a large gap (which btw is a real problem if you want to make a video about health topics under CCBY and are looking for some files to use) and probably will suggest something else at another point that is not nearly as important but still also having gaps. The problem is that at this point photos are generally not the medium where many images are missing, I think that's rather illustrations but there is no challenge for such. When photos are missing they are often quite specific so not a whole subject area and here I listed some examples. I was thinking of revising my oppose to Weak oppose but looking at the examples there really are countless images like that. Prototyperspective (talk) 11:27, 22 September 2024 (UTC)

Well, just compare this list and the Category:River mouths in Chile. One of the images is in the example gallery, and clearly we are missing a lot of others. We also could use a few more different images of the confluence of the white and blue Nile, but I agree that we are not likely to get some. Still - there are many, many rivers out there of which we don't have images of their confluence with the next bigger stream or their delta or river mouth. E.g. looking at the category:Confluences of rivers in Hesse I see a good chance to get a picture of a confluence that we don't have yet. Kritzolina (talk) 13:55, 22 September 2024 (UTC)

If the challenge incentivizes and rewards files that close gaps in particular rather than any images that look aesthetically good and/or have good technical/photographic quality then I'd strike my Oppose or it could be ignored. Nevertheless, I certainly don't support it because what's so special about river mouths that can be seen in photographs or that people are looking photos for? The current rationale for the latter seems to be interesting to see the various ways rivers can end, along with the surrounding landscape, landmarks etc which I don't find convincing at all. It's not interesting and even if it was there's lots of images of that (even if not of every river ending) and interesting doesn't mean it's very educational or important / important to have photos of. Prototyperspective (talk) 18:36, 22 September 2024 (UTC)

•  Support I think we should aim for more pictures of geographic locations. ---tacitos- (talk) 12:45, 31 October 2024 (UTC)
•  Support - Albarubescens 15:15, 3 November 2024 (UTC)
•  Support -- Gioele Serra (talk) 11:08, 3 March 2025 (UTC)

Shallow Depth of field

We have not had a purely technical challenge in a while, so let's try this one

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•  Support as proposer --Kritzolina (talk) 17:09, 21 November 2025 (UTC)
•  Support --August (talk) 11:09, 3 December 2025 (UTC)
•  Support -- F. Riedelio • 💬 07:07, 16 February 2026 (UTC)
•  Support -- Akkbula (talk) 17:00, 22 February 2026 (UTC)

Social isolation

I think there's a lack of well-represented media portraying social isolation that also meet Commons policies such as Commons:Photographs of identifiable people.

Social isolation and loneliness affect 1 in 6 people worldwide according to the World Health Organization.^[1]

This is a broad topic that can be interesting to cover as it takes many shapes, from smartphone or social media addiction to life working at the sea. Other closely related topics include emotional isolation and social distancing. It's moon (talk) 17:39, 5 March 2026 (UTC)

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•  Support as proposer -- It's moon (talk) 17:39, 5 March 2026 (UTC)

Special signs in nature

Nature is important for life. To protect flora and fauna and to protect human life, various special signs with restrictions, orders or warnings intended for visitors are placed in various natural locations. Therefore, I propose a topic that will allow us to know what special signs in different seasons we can find in nature. The topic would include special signs in mountains, forests and parks, near water bodies (e.g. sea beaches, lakes, ponds) and signs related to sports activities in nature (e.g. skiing, sledding, swimming). The topic would not include common orientation signs (directional arrows), traffic signs, and city and street signs.

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Akkbula (talk) 12:41, 2 March 2026 (UTC)

Tile

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•  Support As a proposer. Анастасия Львова^ru/en 20:16, 1 March 2026 (UTC)
•  Support Beautiful and useful. -- Екатерина Борисова (talk) 01:43, 8 March 2026 (UTC)

Torus

This is another subject where Wikimedia has many diagrams, but few actual pictures. Making this a monthly challenge could help with that. SCOTUS Operandi (talk) 20:41, 12 April 2025 (UTC)

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•  Support As proposer. SCOTUS Operandi (talk) 20:43, 12 April 2025 (UTC)
•  Support--PtrQs (talk) 23:11, 12 April 2025 (UTC)
•  Oppose could be anything. Why a shape. There are many photos of toruses of all things. What kind of things, not which shape would make more sense. Prototyperspective (talk) 00:33, 13 April 2025 (UTC)
•  Oppose As per Prototyperspective. Let me add a some reason, This challenge subject can't resolve to problem of Wikimedia many diagrams then few actual pictures. I suggest one by one propose every things subject about torus shape from the subdivisions of toruses shape .--Junyu-K (talk) 00:47, 30 July 2025 (UTC)
•  Support Challenges about shapes have been a great success in the past. I like this new one, but would pehaps broaden it a bit to "Rings". There is a good reason that our articles have those diagrams in them and not the pictures of swimrings, bagels etc. Of which, btw. we already have more than you found probably, they are just not marked as toruses. Which they often are not - at least not perfect toruses. So let's keep it simple and have some rings which are not toruses appear as well. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kritzolina (talk • contribs) 06:08, 13 April 2025 (UTC)
•  Support --Jarekt (talk) 01:41, 2 August 2025 (UTC)
•  Support Анастасия Львова^ru/en 21:29, 28 February 2026 (UTC)

Flood: before, during, after...

Hi. It's rainy for many people. Could be interesting to show flooded places before, during and after floods from the same spot, allowing to upload 3 pictures by site but for only 2 or 3 sites. Sorry, no exemple to show... LW² \m/ ^{(Lie ² me...)} 02:34, 22 February 2024 (UTC)

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•  Oppose  Comment I think it is quite difficult to forecast floods, so showing places before floods may be really challenging. Although the idea is good to ask for a comparison during/after, it's too difficult to do for this type of challenge. Indeed, a flood has to occur during the challenge (which lasts only 2 months maximum). It would restrict the numbers of photographers too much. Wikisquack (talk) 11:52, 4 August 2024 (UTC)

  One doesn't have to forecast floods and one doesn't have to take the photos anew instead of looking through old photos or going to a place on has previously photographed during some flooding. Indeed, a flood has to occur during the challenge false or do the photos have to be taken during the challenge (that would be new to me)? Your reasoning applies to many other challenges as well – not everyone has access to respective photographable subjects. There's many floods in Europe right now so people could take some photos now, see 2024 Central European floods. Especially interesting would be things like dams and similar protective measures which would be educational, important, and useful and probably is somewhat missing. Prototyperspective (talk) 23:05, 16 September 2024 (UTC)

  Changed my vote -- Wikisquack (talk) 08:58, 14 May 2025 (UTC)

   Support Wikisquack (talk) 16:35, 4 June 2025 (UTC)

•  Oppose IMO too special. --F. Riedelio • 💬 07:06, 18 August 2024 (UTC)

•  Support But a gallery of images is missing, maybe because there's so few photos of that which would make this a great challenge. If too difficult or specific broaden the scope a bit to e.g. also include other disasters but floods should be fine. Prototyperspective (talk) 23:17, 2 September 2024 (UTC)
•  Support Happy to help by adding a gallery. I support your idea. —Cbuske46 (talk) 17:44, 24 October 2024 (UTC)

  Which of these are from the same spot? I think the value and point of this is that shows the same place both during and after (or before) some flooding. This isn't about any place during a flood so any photo would need to be accompanied with at least 1 other photo from either the same photographer or somebody else. Prototyperspective (talk) 17:50, 24 October 2024 (UTC)

  Ah...I didn't read the description fully - possibly a topic of FLOODS would be workable as it would only require a single photo? 142.114.227.76 18:13, 26 October 2024 (UTC)

•  Support --F. Riedelio • 💬 08:59, 25 December 2024 (UTC)
•  Support --Ermell (talk) 16:52, 31 December 2024 (UTC)
•  Support--Junyu-K (talk) 13:39, 14 August 2025 (UTC)

Where land meets water

An inspiration from shan shui (Q516583), but in consideration of users living at flat places, let's have land instead of mountains intersecting water.

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RoyZuo (talk) 09:00, 3 November 2024 (UTC)

•  Support -- An insect photographer (talk) 16:50, 3 November 2024 (UTC)
•  Support --Kritzolina (talk) 18:38, 3 November 2024 (UTC)
•  Oppose Too broad. Examples contain a few interesting types of photos but there's uncounted thousands of photos of such here already and it could be anything. Maybe "inhabited land meets water" would be good but that could be the theme proposed right above. Prototyperspective (talk) 12:10, 14 November 2024 (UTC)
•  Support --F. Riedelio • 💬 16:15, 24 December 2024 (UTC)
•  Support -- Ibex73 (talk) 16:31, 30 December 2024 (UTC)
•  Oppose --Junyu-K (talk) 11:07, 26 January 2025 (UTC)
•  Support --Jarekt (talk) 03:24, 3 September 2025 (UTC)

•  Supportthis will take a while to capture such shot , such breathtaking views are hard to find sometimes. Girlmath (talk) 05:49, 10 February 2026 (UTC)

People in public institutions buildings

If you know of a better title, please suggest it since I'm unsure what the best title would be. I simply mean what is called de:Öffentliche Einrichtung in German with the primary example being state-funded public schools. Also see Category:Government organizations.

I go the idea when looking for a photo of pupils using smartphones in class to add to the Wikidata item about smartphone use in school for this table (btw there you can find more concepts that miss an illustrating image) and I couldn't even see many photos showing a typical scene of students sitting in a classroom listening to a teacher. Likewise, photos of state workers working in public interest may be gappy – for example, I'd be interested in photos relating to their use and nonuse of open source software like Microsoft Office vs LibreOffice as well as digitization and diverse daily activities where photos would probably often be useful for Wikipedia articles about the job or task/activity etc. It's not about photos of the building interiors or just people randomly walking around within it but of certain activities etc. It's of high relevance and importance to society how a society passes on knowledge and skills to its next generation and how the state is functioning, especially in current times. The more representative or the more closing a gap of missing media, the better. Maybe the scope of this challenge should be narrowed somehow (maybe to "People using digital technologies in public buildings")? May add more examples later and you could add some too.

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  One of very few pics showing people in here

•  Support as proposer – important and missing media.

Prototyperspective (talk) 14:18, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

•  Oppose I have some concerns about the privacy rights of the people in those public institutions. In addition the interiors of buildings are not included in FoP in many countries, so we would most likely also have copyright concerns with this challenge. --Kritzolina (talk) 06:19, 13 April 2025 (UTC)
•  Oppose Against, because children's privacy must be respected. And in some countries it is forbidden to take photos in public schools and to publish them, for example in Germany. sorry. Levin Holtkamp (talk) 19:40, 24 May 2025 (UTC)

  Schools aren't the only type of public institutions. Also, FOP limitations apply as much as for any other uploads to Commons. Prototyperspective (talk) 20:06, 24 May 2025 (UTC)

Wind and Air

Everything in relation with wind and air, whether it's (powered by) wind or it creates wind: sports, engines, transports, music...

 Comment There were already 2017 - July - Sailboats and 2018 - April - Aircraft

 Question Should we make a separate one for "Wind turbines and windmills" ?

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Wikisquack (talk) 11:24, 2 May 2025 (UTC)

•  Comment We did Wind in February 2021. We can certainly do it again, though. I just thought that should be pointed out. SCOTUS Operandi (talk) 00:21, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

  Thanks for pointing out @SCOTUS Operandi, I searched for it but didn't find it. Wikisquack (talk) 08:50, 14 May 2025 (UTC)

•  Strong support--Junyu-K (talk) 01:56, 3 August 2025 (UTC)
•  Support --Gower (talk) 16:56, 14 November 2025 (UTC)

Wooden bridges

We did bridges before and we did a challenge about the material wood, but I think this specific challenge combinig those two things could work well

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•  Support as proposer --Kritzolina (talk) 07:53, 14 September 2025 (UTC)
•  Support --Jarekt (talk) 02:35, 1 October 2025 (UTC)
•  Support --FreCha (talk) 15:56, 5 November 2025 (UTC)
•  Support --Gower (talk) 16:56, 14 November 2025 (UTC)
•  Support Wikisquack (talk) 11:16, 18 November 2025 (UTC)
•  Support --Msb (talk) 16:22, 8 February 2026 (UTC)

Windmills

Windmills which are machines operated by the force of wind acting on vanes or sails Thomas Lee (talk) 00:36, 8 October 2025 (UTC)

Please add examples. Also it's very broad (probably too broad). Prototyperspective (talk) 13:47, 8 October 2025 (UTC)

I changed it to Windmills. Thomas Lee (talk) 19:48, 8 October 2025 (UTC)

 Oppose Still no examples. Also there's many images of these already. Prototyperspective (talk) 19:20, 13 November 2025 (UTC)

•  Support --Akkbula

Social life & intelligence of pigs

There's lots of media files of pigs (Sus scrofa domesticus). However, there are few files showing the social life and extensive cognitive abilities of pigs. Let's have one of the two photo competitions be about that important subject of the species we as Homo sapiens kill off in the billions every year now.

Pigs are roughly as intelligent as dogs but after their usually miserable life get killed during childhood at ~7% of their "maximum expected lifespan" on average. Because cognitive abilities are low as a child and even more so after living in a boring enclosure with little space and cognitive engagement, this would need to be pigs in zoos, domestic pigs, and things of that sort where cognitive abilities can better develop and be expressed. For information about their intelligence, see the Wikipedia which has just one barely illustrative file, Pig intelligence.

It would be very interesting files and, again, of course both important and close a gap in Commons' media. Maybe videos would be the better format for this. It's not necessarily easy to photograph this – possibly one needs to actively engage somehow to get them to do something peculiar or visibly show their curiosity for example. Maybe the entire concept of pigs as pets could be part of this, or even 'pigs outside the traditional factory meat farming context' (basically this is not a challenge for pics of pigs in farms or dead or dying pigs etc).

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Prototyperspective (talk) 00:36, 19 November 2025 (UTC)

 Support it fills a gap and is an interesting topic. -- Wikisquack (talk) 09:27, 19 November 2025 (UTC)

 Support as proposer. Prototyperspective (talk) 13:01, 19 November 2025 (UTC)

Mountains

Mountains and sunsets Ericktemu1909 (talk) 16:45, 22 November 2025 (UTC)

 Oppose While it would be very nice pictures, we have way too much pictures of sunsets on Commons already. It's the same for mountains. Maybe add some restrictions. -- Wikisquack (talk) 19:41, 28 November 2025 (UTC)

The sky during the day

Thème : Le ciel de tous les pays en fonction des températures européenne, même heure et même jour. Charlene Oliveira Barros (talk) 23:45, 27 November 2025 (UTC)

Bonjour ! Est-ce que tu peux préciser ton idée, je n'ai pas bien compris... De plus, peux-tu l'écrire en anglais si possible ? On est sur un site international et de très nombreuses personnes ne parlent pas français. Si tu as besoin d'aide, n'hésites pas. -- Wikisquack (talk) 19:29, 28 November 2025 (UTC)

(@Charlene Oliveira Barros) Wikisquack (talk) 14:11, 4 December 2025 (UTC)

Mocktails

A non alcoholic drinks, mocktails are drinks that taste like alcoholic drinks without alcohol use commonly serve at bars or restaurants. Capture mocktails with artistic photography perspective whether in daylight or dark. Photo expresses various colours of drink.Girlmath (talk) 15:55, 29 November 2025 (UTC)

Please include a caption.

Would this include all kind of drinks or just non-alcoholic "cocktails"?

-- Wikisquack (talk) 16:35, 29 November 2025 (UTC)

non alcoholic cocktails or juices Girlmath (talk) 16:39, 29 November 2025 (UTC)

Doctor's visit & telemedicine

These are important topics, images in these areas very useful, and I noticed a strange gap in these areas despite that this is of great relevance to society and individuals' daily lives (and of increasing importance due to demographic transition and other trends and developments).

See Category:Doctor's visit (new) and Category:Telemedicine.

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--Prototyperspective (talk) 17:25, 4 December 2025 (UTC)

•  Support as proposer.

Prototyperspective (talk) 17:25, 4 December 2025 (UTC)

how can you add these photos here I tried, but didn't found how to. Girlmath (talk) 13:56, 8 December 2025 (UTC)

Hello, this isn't yet a photo challenge. If you think it should be, you can support this proposal with a comment saying so. If you're asking how to upload such photos without participating in any challenge/competition, just use the UploadWizard at Special:UploadWizard. Prototyperspective (talk) 14:20, 8 December 2025 (UTC)

thank you I think the idea you present is unique and ideal for everyday users who often visit doctor. If they let me click them on while working Girlmath (talk) 14:25, 8 December 2025 (UTC)

Hi,

I'm very concerned about the right to privacy of people being photographed in such situations, and I thus can understand (not support) such a gap, if there would be. No one wants to get stuck in such difficult situations (both photographers and photograph'ed)...

Similarly to First aid, I think we should not upload identifiable pictures of patients, and we should really make sure that medical personnel is ok with being on Commons. I am myself very, very skittish about any picture of people in general, though.

> I don't really find there's a big gap of files regarding medicine in general though. Lots of pictures, videos of medication, imagery, diagnoses, tools, patients being examined... Could you tell more about what you were expecting in this field? I don't seem to struggle as much as you, so I guess we are not looking for the same things, maybe. But anyways, a gap is not necessarily needed for a challenge to be ran.

However, regarding Telemedecine, I support it. We could photograph tools, cabins...

-- Wikisquack (talk) 22:19, 9 December 2025 (UTC)

I'm very concerned about the right to privacy of people being photographed They could 1) consent or 2) these could be the photographers themselves. Moreover, how does this differ from people walking in the street for city photographs etc – it's not shown what they're at the doctor at for.

I think we should not upload identifiable pictures of patients Why? There is no shame in being a patient.

One option would be to add some sort of cautioning note to the top of the photo challenge so people are asked to make sure the people are okay with being photographed.

I don't really find there's a big gap of files regarding medicine in general though. & a gap is not necessarily needed Never said otherwise. Prototyperspective (talk) 11:07, 10 December 2025 (UTC)

Sorry, maybe I misunderstood

I noticed a strange gap in these areas

. Wikisquack (talk) 11:33, 10 December 2025 (UTC)

I think this topic is not a concern if photographers use sets and shoots of actors who work with them, after all doctors won't let a photographer into his cabin to click. Is it possible to upload a digital image? Girlmath (talk) 18:00, 13 December 2025 (UTC)

What do you mean by "digital image"? An artificial picture?

It's true that one would need the doctor to agree, it would be difficult otherwise. Wikisquack (talk) 18:47, 13 December 2025 (UTC)

Edited or merge of two images could get the desired results of aloud so. It can generate more ideas into the category Girlmath (talk) 18:50, 13 December 2025 (UTC)

Cosmetic skincare vs skinimalism

Daily care of skin by using skincare products and cosmetics, especially important for girls to rejuvenate skin cells and look attractive. Skinimalism is the use of cosmetic products which are only necessary to skin condition, it is minimalism of skincare. Photo must show the difference between them. Girlmath (talk) 06:00, 9 February 2026 (UTC)

 Weak support I'd be very supportive of a skincare photo challenge. There's substantial media gaps in that area. "Cosmetic skincare vs skinimalism" is far too narrow I think. Additionally, I don't know how "Skinimalism" could be photographed but you could include an example of such in the gallery of examples. Please add a gallery of example images as with all the other challenge proposals here that get substantial participation.  Oppose "Photo must show the difference between them". Also of note is that "rejuvenate skin cells" and "look attractive" are two very different thing/goals/practices/types of products with only a small overlap. Prototyperspective (talk) 14:43, 9 February 2026 (UTC)

Do-it-yourself health & hygiene products

Self-made health products including hygiene products and other products relating to health. I'll try to find more examples in cats like Category:Do it yourself.

Note: DIY is of special relevance for these kinds of products because this way one can avoid common toxic or potentially problematic ingredients (common) and/or save a lot of money and/or use ingredients barely available in finished products (at least at a comparable dosage) and know exactly what the product is made of.

I think media about this would be of special educational value and often quite useful and that there are substantial media gaps in that area.

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• How to make a natural hair growth serum

 Support as proposer Prototyperspective (talk) 15:03, 9 February 2026 (UTC)