Flickr

Ben Holcomb

Ben Holcomb

EF5
Joined
Mar 30, 2008
Messages
1,456
Location
Norman, OK
I've been getting into Flickr lately as a great way to share photos without the BS, both chasing photos and other trip photos from my travels. I've noticed a number of chasers as well on Flickr.

The best part of Flickr is how easy it is to publish right out of lightroom. I've been doing a lot of revamping of all of my photos, re-editing them all and geotagging them in lightroom. I can send all my pictures easily to different flickr accounts with 2 clicks using the flickr plugin.

What service(s) do you use? What is your flickr url if you are on flickr?

Mine are

https://www.flickr.com/photos/benholcomb/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/oklahomachaser/
 
I have been terrible about jumping around between services over the years. Photobucket used to be the go-to for image storage and even online editing. Then I moved to SmugMug because I saw value in my images. Turns out nobody else did. Used Picasa after that but as usual I have become disenchanted with yet another Google-owned entity. So now I'm on Filckr and I have to admit, it does what I need and it's a cheap upgrade to get unlimited storage and other handy features.
The only drawback to Flickr is that there is a TON of options, views, etc and frankly it seems overwhelming. I need to get in there and do a little reading so I can wrap my head around the service and use it appropriately.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/hamwx
 
I use smugmug, not because I am trying to sell, but because their user interface was well-designed and had a lot of powerful features. Also, it didn't cost a fortune. I should probably review other services again just to make sure I am not missing out on something.
 
Steve I had gone through a similar path. Picasa which was another Google disaster, putting my photos up on my own site - they're still there btw, but not getting but a few hundred views a year perhaps?

The next best thing seemed to be flickr. It seems to be the premiere image sharing site now. There's so many groups. You can search by key word. I've been adding keywords, tags and titles to my photos in light room and outputting them. Flickr just takes the upload and sorts them accordingly.

JR and I were talking about visiting Death Valley NP while in Vegas next - So I brought up flickr and searched Death Valley NP. Lots of photos. So many perspectives, so many creative styles, post, etc.
 
Jeremy when setup right, the flickr plugin rocks! It has a 1 to 1 correlation with the images on flickr. Luckily I was able to start with fresh flickr accounts. If I ever decide to edit a photo in lightroom, add a keyword, tag it somehow, it will allow me to publish the changes. URL's of the images even stay the same. I've been overall very impressed and thinking of going for the pro account eventhough I don't have much use for any of the features or space.
 
I tried Flickr for a while, mirroring my best images on there. The problem is that their search function and user community make it impossible for people to discover new images. I got almost no traffic to my photos on Flickr. For example, if you search for "lightning", you'll get some guy's raw memory card dump of a Tampa Bay Lightning game he shot where he's tagged 200 hockey player images with the word "lightning". You have to scroll through all of those before you get to something else, and their never-ending search results configuration bogs down the browser after a while. Flickr used to be a good way to discover new storm images from around the world, but their search function is so impossible to use now that I just gave up on it. If I can't find others' new images, no one's going to find mine.

I host 2000 pixel-wide watermarked versions of my photos on my site, then link all of those over to my Zenfolio account (ZF is similar to SmugMug). If you just need a display site, Flickr's OK, but ZF or Smugmug allow you to sell prints and other products in addition to hosting the images. Even though the market for prints is abysmal, they at least pay for the ZF annual fee.
 
Flickr is one of my favorite websites (my page is in my signature). It seems like nearly all of my images that I have licensed have first been discovered through Flickr. That even includes a time lapse video even though Flickr's video player leaves a lot to be desired. With every image I post I include a link to my (Photoshelter) website. To get a lot of views it's important to add tags, a description, geolocation, and add your image to groups. I'm always inspired by the photographers I follow and the pictures they post. Whenever I'm about to photograph somewhere new I always search Flickr to get an idea of what to expect. I've been a pro member for years so I'm not sure what it looks like for free accounts these days. The site isn't perfect but it's the best image hosting website I've found. They make it very easy to share images and embed them into forums like this one.

I haven't tried publishing out of Lightroom yet I'll have to look into that.
 
If you haven't visited your SmugMug in awhile, might be wise to do so soon. They're switching out their interface and your old style page will soon default to their new look. I just barged straight into seeing what would happen if you republish without making any changes and lost my navigation, background texture as well as font choice. Spending this evening re-learning their service as well as redoing homepage, folders and galleries, I'll still have to make a new header when I find time to care but yeah, it's a changin'... Oh and goodbye to traditional fonts like arial, helvetica, times, etc., their font choices are all new and you pretty much have to go through one by one to see if you like it. Tried to Google a font list with samples but did not have luck but there too, didn't try too hard either. Discovered 'Arimo' is closest to Arial. Save yourself time and make a template for your homepage then use that for the rest of your site.

smugnew.PNG
 
Zenfolio has also gone off the deep end recently with several puzzling and disastrous changes to their print ordering process.
 
Dan Robinson said:
I tried Flickr for a while, mirroring my best images on there. The problem is that their search function and user community make it impossible for people to discover new images. I got almost no traffic to my photos on Flickr. For example, if you search for "lightning", you'll get some guy's raw memory card dump of a Tampa Bay Lightning game he shot where he's tagged 200 hockey player images with the word "lightning". You have to scroll through all of those before you get to something else, and their never-ending search results configuration bogs down the browser after a while. Flickr used to be a good way to discover new storm images from around the world, but their search function is so impossible to use now that I just gave up on it. If I can't find others' new images, no one's going to find mine.

I host 2000 pixel-wide watermarked versions of my photos on my site, then link all of those over to my Zenfolio account (ZF is similar to SmugMug). If you just need a display site, Flickr's OK, but ZF or Smugmug allow you to sell prints and other products in addition to hosting the images. Even though the market for prints is abysmal, they at least pay for the ZF annual fee.
Click to expand...

When I am on Flickr, I try to post pictures in active groups and post links to my albums in facebook/twitter etc for the subject I am photographing.. Otherwise youre right and after a week or so, you just dont get many views.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Tony Laubach
My Experience With Legacy Box; Digitizing Over a Decade of My Early Career
Replies
4
Views
407
Tony Laubach
Tony Laubach
Randy Jennings
Yellowstone Flooding June 2022
Replies
1
Views
1K
Rick Schmidt
Rick Schmidt
Dan Robinson
Social media plugin/function for ST
Replies
3
Views
1K
Jeff Duda
Jeff Duda
Dan Robinson
2024 Chase Season Epilogue
2
Replies
17
Views
3K
James Wilson
James Wilson
Dan Robinson
The coordinated push to eliminate weather websites
Replies
14
Views
1K
Jason N
Jason N
Back
Top