Flickr

[carregwen]

It's a great idea, it has some really useful features, and a lot of people use it, but don't you find its layout and navigation a problem?

Discuss?

[Donald]

I agree with your summary. Flickr is merely my means of getting images up and into the ether. I ended up as a Flickr user simply beacuse I kept getting these pop ups telling me that since my ISP was btinternet.com, who have a tie-in with Yahoo, I would be blessed with Flickr Pro - for free. This was all before I got seriously into photography. Flickr pro sounded terribly good - so I signed up.

It is indeed perfectly adequate. Up to now I've said that my only use for such a thing is as a vehicle to get images up onto this site (being the only forum of which I am a member). The idea of having 'my own website' never entered my head until recently. Now that I've found that I seem (I hope not arrogantly) to be reasonably competent at this photography lark, the the idea of 'my website' has begun to creep in. If I did go down that road, then I wouldn't see Flickr as the place for that. Where you, Colin and Steve (Wirefox) have your own sites are the places I would be most interested in looking at.

Getting images up onto Flickr is fine. Very easy. It is when you get to editing and organising (moving images around, placing them in various 'sets', etc) that I think it is less than user friendly. Perhaps if I paid more attention I would remember the buttons to hit to perform specific actions. As it is, every time I'm trying to carry our one of the aforementioned actions, I find myself just having to hit lots of buttons until the thing I want to happen, does happen.

Edit - I should have added that I have not used any other similar sites/services, so cannot make any comparison as to ease of use, etc.

[carregwen]

I agree with your summary. Flickr is merely my means of getting images up and into the ether. I ended up as a Flickr user simply beacuse I kept getting these pop ups telling me that since my ISP was btinternet.com, who have a tie-in with Yahoo, I would be blessed with Flickr Pro - for free. This was all before I got seriously into photography. Flickr pro sounded terribly good - so I signed up.

I'm the same - a BT Yahoo user, so I got Pro free.

The idea of having 'my own website' never entered my head until recently. Now that I've found that I seem (I hope not arrogantly) to be reasonably competent at this photography lark, the the idea of 'my website' has begun to creep in. If I did go down that road, then I wouldn't see Flickr as the place for that. Where you, Colin and Steve (Wirefox) have your own sites are the places I would be most interested in looking at.

I think you should have your own site, Donald, if you are prepared for the cost (mine on Clickpic is abot £85 a year, inc domain name) You need a good portfolio to get it started otherwise it could fall a bit flat, but your photography is certainly good enough. I think that having your own site makes you more focused. Not sure why, but it does.

Getting images up onto Flickr is fine. Very easy. It is when you get to editing and organising (moving images around, placing them in various 'sets', etc) that I think it is less than user friendly. Perhaps if I paid more attention I would remember the buttons to hit to perform specific actions. As it is, every time I'm trying to carry our one of the aforementioned actions, I find myself just having to hit lots of buttons until the thing I want to happen, does happen.

Yes, getting stuff up to Fickr is easy - I use the uploading tool which is very good. It's the actual navigation that seems difficult. It's also annoying that you can't change the skin - it's white or nothing! The real problem is with groups and commenting on individual shots. The software is not like vBulletin forum software, it seems very antiquated and lacking in funcionality. For example, if you want to reply to someone's comment in one of your shots you can't hit a 'reply with quote' button. The groups are a minefield. They all seem to have different rules, and often it seems very unclear how they operate.

A wider issue for me is the standard of photography and the comment that is given. I see many shots on there that are frankly rubbish, and they might attract comments such as 'Wow! great shot...' I think it would be much better if everyone could upload as much as they want (as they do now) but you could only submit shots to group pools on a very limited basis.

[DavidGee]

I'm the same - a BT Yahoo user, so I got Pro free.

Rob, how did you get this as I am a BT Yahoo user as well
Thanks
David

[Donald]

David

For me it was a case of signing up at www.flickr.com. As always, you are asked to give your e-mail address. When Flickr identified me as having a '@btinternet.com' address, I was told I get the 'Pro' version. And that was it.

[carregwen]

Rob, how did you get this as I am a BT Yahoo user as well
Thanks
David

As Donald said, it should be automatic. Did you have a Flickr account before you had Yahoo? That might cause a problem, but you should be able to upgrade to Pro without cost. Have you tried to? What happened? It's worth getting Pro as it's much better for certain things, such as editing shots etc.

[carregwen]

One thing I find frustrating... I want the web link for a shot so I can post on a forum (like here). I have to select the shot and get the 'all sizes' page to get it. On Photobucket it's listed against the shot on the overview panel, so all you have to do is click on it to copy. Why can't Flickr do that?

[carregwen]

One good thing.. the Flickr uploader tool is pretty good. You can bulk upload, and put them into sets - even create new sets, all without actually going to Flickr. Here http://www.flickr.com/tools/

[carregwen]

I only discovered this last week...

If you upload a shot and you don't want it to show on your Flickr page as part of your portfolio (say it's an edit of someone else's shot) upload it and mark it only to be seen by you (you can also do that on the Uploader tool). When you link back to Flickr from here to display the shot it will show, even though it's private. I suppose the logic is that you have given your permission by posting the private link. That is very useful. For example, this shot is marked as private.

[Donald]

For example, this shot is marked as private.

Rob

I agree that this is a useful feature, which I use quite a bit. However, although the link to your image is showing when I press Reply with Quote, I can't actually see the image in your original post. But that may be to do with this site rather than Flickr?

Can you see this ....?

[carregwen]

Rob

I agree that this is a useful feature, which I use quite a bit. However, although the link to your image is showing when I press Reply with Quote, I can't actually see the image in your original post. But that may be to do with this site rather than Flickr?

Can you see this ....?

I was waiting for you to say that. I can't see it either, but the original is still showing in the school sports thread from this morning. Here SportsFan heads to the Stage

I think it must be this site. I can see your shot. Is it marked as private?

[carregwen]

Donald

How can I get to your Flickr page? If I copy the link of your shot it just views it in another browser tab. It doesn't contain your Flickr screen name.

[Donald]

I can see your shot. Is it marked as private?

How can I get to your Flickr page? If I copy the link of your shot it just views it in another browser tab. It doesn't contain your Flickr screen name.

1. Yes that one is marked as private

2. I think you get to my Flickr pages at :- http://www.flickr.com/photos/camanachd/

[carregwen]

... I think you get to my Flickr pages at :- http://www.flickr.com/photos/camanachd/

OK, got it. You have some very good shots under 'Donald's slideshow'. I added you as a contact.

[DavidGee]

Rob & Donald<
I had my btinternet email address about two years before my Flickr account. I think the issue may be that my btinternet email is not my main email address.
I have sent an email to Flickr asking for the upgrade so will see what happens
Thanks for taking the time to reply.
David

[carregwen]

Rob & Donald<
I had my btinternet email address about two years before my Flickr account. I think the issue may be that my btinternet email is not my main email address.
I have sent an email to Flickr asking for the upgrade so will see what happens
Thanks for taking the time to reply.
David

David

I believe your email address with Flickr has to be a btinternet one. You might need to register your Flickr account with the BT email address. See what response you get from your email. What is your account screen name so we can look at it?

To think I worked for BT for 27 years!

[DavidGee]

Rob,
My user id is djguk47
the link showing for my Photostream is http://www.flickr.com/photos/44160233@N07/

David

[carregwen]

Rob,
My user id is djguk47
the link showing for my Photostream is http://www.flickr.com/photos/44160233@N07/

David

Thanks David. Have added you as contact. I also left a comment and gave you a ticking off!

[Dave Humphries]

To think I worked for BT for 27 years!

I only put 7 years in with them and "jumped ship", small world, eh.

Whoops, nearly forgot this bit
In answer to the first question, yes the flickr navigation drives me nuts too.
By the time you can see an image in a large enough size (in All Sizes), you can't step on to the next one , so you back out once (or twice) to select another image, then have to go back into All Sizes to see it big again.

Slideshow (which I tried with David Gee's link) works OK I suppose, but you're never sure what it's doing about sizing, which can make some look soft if the browser is interpolating images.

I do like being able to add "/meta" to a flickr page to see the EXIF though - although with PBase it is already there on the page anyway

Bulk upload with PBase does require one to put images into a windows (or other?) zipped folder, then name that as the file to upload and it does the rest - fairly convenient (it unzips automatically at PBase without any further action), but takes up your HDD space with duplicates of images in folders.

Cheers,

[DavidGee]

Thanks David. Have added you as contact. I also left a comment and gave you a ticking off!

Rob,
Many thanks for the comment. I am still getting used to people other than my wife saying that I have managed to produce a good shot. Up until very late last year I only ever used the safety of the "green box" on my old 350D. Upgraded to the 50D using the justification of the old lens I was using were playing up. Now I struggle to even find the "green box". Upgraded lenses at the same time.
I will post the Teddy Bears' Picnic when I work out which thread to put them in
As for their names.. well the big one is called Teddy and has been for the last 62 years, OK not very original I know, the two small ones have no names and the other in the jumper is actually Mr Mole, you can just make out his glasses.

David