Have you ever wondered why there’s a sea of differences between the celebrity portraits seen on IMDb as compared to those on Wikipedia? It turns out many of us have been scratching our heads over the same. But there’s a band of heroic photographers on a mission to try and fix this discrepancy, and I for one feel they need to be applauded for their efforts. Let’s first take a look at the problem and how these folks are planning on setting things right.
To say that I’m a movie buff would be an understatement of sorts. It’s the reason I make my presence felt at quiz nights and often’s the time I’ve taken the team to the top of the leaderboard, by being able to pull out an obscure piece of Hollywood in the nick of time. In the last 5 years alone, CineTrak says I’ve seen a total of 671 films. That’s not counting those on the days that I’ve perused cable TV when my streaming services don’t offer anything suitable for me. One habit I quite religiously follow after watching a film is to visit the IMDb trivia section of the movie I’ve just finished, often followed by a readthrough on the Wikipedia page of the same. And if you’re someone who does the same, you’re bound to have noticed the sharp contrast in the quality of photos seen on these websites.
On IMDb, you often have professional headshots and crisp portraits showcasing the actors in their full glamour,. These images are usually supplied by talent agencies or the actors themselves, curated to project a specific image. On Wikipedia, you’d struggle to see the same. It’s often a screengrab from a movie or show that the actors are famous for, that graces their Wiki page, or maybe a smartphone snapshot taken at a movie premiere or autograph signing event. There’s even an Instagram page dedicated to bad Wikipedia photos – @badwikiphotos
The Problem
Let’s take a look at the below pictures that will easily illustrate the matter at hand. First up is a professional headshot seen on one of my favorite actresses, Carrie Coon’s IMDB page.
The photo here was taken by photographer Susan Shacter. It’s taken using professional lighting and equipment, as is clear to see. And then we have this photo seen on her Wikipedia page, which is a shot of her at some public event, possibly at a promo for for movie.
On closer analysis I was able to find out that it’s actually a crop of the below image taken by photographer GreatGabbo on Flickr. A self-confessed “big consumer of pop culture and live events,” his Flickr feed shows a lot of photographs of celebrities at red carpet events, and it’s photographers like him who have widely contributed to the upkeep of recent images on Wikipedia celebrity page. I assume it’s a thankless job since they don’t get paid for the usage of these shots by the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit organization that runs Wikipedia. Nor do the celebrities ever reach out to them with so much as a thank you. While these images capture a moment of authenticity, they often lack the professionalism of a studio portrait.
The Solution
Image by Fuzheado. Used under CC Attribution 4.0 International license.
The weird divide between IMDb and Wikipedia when it comes to portraits says a lot about the digital age. IMDb is mostly about polished, professional, carefully curated headshots. Wikipedia? Not so much. It’s an open-source free-for-all, where image quality takes a backseat to accessibility. Here’s where a group of photographers known as WikiPortraits comes into the picture. They’re a bunch of talented individuals using their skills to give notable figures a proper headshot on their Wikipedia pages. By volunteering their expertise, these photographers are proving that it’s possible to balance professionalism with accessibility. The lack of high-quality, freely available images for public figures is about to change, thanks to the efforts of these folks, who first sent a group of photographers to SXSW 2024 in Jan last year, backed by a $5000 grant from the Wikimedia Foundation. Here the group actually set up a makeshift studio on location and snapped some professional portraits of around 300 attendees, some of whom were film crew members.
Film festival coverage
They’ve also spared their time to capture photos of celebrities at various prestigious film festivals last year, including the big ones at Cannes, Venice, Sundance, and Toronto. A selection of those images can be seen below. All images are used under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
Many of the WikiPortraits team members are established photographers, although probably not all of them do this full-time for a living. So, the next time you’re browsing Wikipedia and notice a surprisingly good headshot, take a moment to appreciate the effort behind it. The work of the WikiPortraits team members is a small but meaningful step toward closing the visual gap between IMDb and Wikipedia, one portrait at a time. And maybe one day, the difference between the two platforms won’t be so stark, thanks to the dedication of groups like them.
The lead image on this site is taken from the WikiPortraits Studio page on Wikimedia Commons. Used under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.