Flickr

[Peter Waites]

In an idle (several) moment(s) I just joined Flickr but I don't really know why - or what I expect to do with it. Any experienced Flickr'rs out there got any advice on the best ways to use it? I enjoy this forum and I'm not sure that I've got room in my life for much more. But I gather some of you are on Flickr and I'd be interested to read about your experiences if you feel like sharing them.

[byteme]

Peter - I joined about a year ago for the same reason as you - have posted one photo - have done nothing else with it.................

[Al Tee]

Peter, I'm on Flickr, have been for about a year now. What do I get out of it? Well you can use it basically as an on-line library, it accepts much larger size images, I suppose it can be a low cost way of displaying your material to a worldwide audience. One of the most important things I get from it is encouragement to pursue my digital art, in that it shows me that I'm not the only nutter on the planet with extreme tastes, in fact, most of my creations are mild compared to many many others. You can join groups according to photo - artistic taste / geographical location / work - hobby interest. You'll be amazed at how many people there are world wide with similar interests. If you ask Trena I'm sure she'll tell you how to get your pics accepted by the likes of Getty images.
You get statistical information on the images you have stored, by way of recorded viewings, people adding to favourites, etc;etc. I've just clocked 25000 views to my images. I reckon Trena will be in the hundreds of thousands.
Hope this helps.
Al.

[surfg1mp]

Hi peter, been on flickr for a couple of years. For me it has lots of uses. One is to store images and receive feedback. The most useful way I use it, is too join groups relating to things im interested in, or kit I own. I.e Nikon d90 group. I went through a stage of posting images in the award groups, where you post an image and award five other images in the group. What a pointless waste of time that seems to be. Yes you get views but seems so cheap!!! Flickr is a brilliant way to learn about photography and socialise. it is up to you how you chose to use it.

[Tugboat]

Hi Peter, I am also on Flickr, I started on there because I saw The Valley Walker was on there & clicked onto his link, I gradually found my way around,but as I see from Al's comments I still haven't found everything,as I haven't yet clicked on the statistics thing yet! I like the different groups for being inspired by so many fantastic images you see there,and a lot of them have competitions each month which I find is good fun to join in. I have made a lot of friends on there & get great inspiration...BUT, if you don't have a lot of spare time be warned it can be addictive!!!! what is your name on there I will look you up.

[petrochemist]

Hi Peter
I'm another user of Flickr. Although I've put about 100 pictures up and probably originally joined to share photos that were taken on my compact cameras (not suitable for the brand specific forum I used exclusively before joining), that's a minor part of the use of Flickr to me. As Al mentions it's the groups that make it work for me. Whilst many of the groups are little more than ways of getting people to view your pictures, there are others that have active discussions, many in fields that are highly specialized. These can be a simple way of getting tips on the more obscure aspects of photography, or supporting software. I've found some of the infra-red / macro / panorama / DIY groups very helpful.
In addition I sometimes come across groups that suggest a new technique to play with (such as using UV excited fluorescence - which I came across looking for information on photographing using UV wavelengths only).
IIRC it was via one of the discussions on Flickr that I was recommended to try WPF. (Thanks Don!)

[Peter Waites]

Some very interesting comments here. It seems quite overwhelming to begin with but I think I'll just proceed very slowly and see if it "grows on me". I'll have a look around the discussion groups . Thanks all for your contributions. I'm "photographer pete" Trena but not much to see yet!

[Arthur53]

Interesting stuff. Going to have a look at Flickr. All I knew about it was as way to share photos with family and friends, something I am not interested in. Like the idea of the groups Etc. Peter thanks for asking about Flickr could have opened a whole new world for me.

[Peter Waites]

Fiddling about with it Arthur - If I've done it right I now have two contacts, both members of wpf also. I'm no spring chicken but it still feels a bit like first day at a new school.

[Al Tee]

Prime example of what I was saying about finding out that you're not the only Nutter on the planet thro Flickr groups. I've taken some kind of urban decay shots recently & what made me take them was the fact that there was an abandoned sofa in each shot! There's a group on Flickr called Sofa Free with SEVEN HUNDRED & EIGHTY ONE other nutters with SEVEN THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED pics of discarded sofa's!
Al.