Flickr

[HillHavenStudio]

I keep reading about Flickr and how a lot of people use it. I have a flickr account but I do not think I am using it to the best of it's abilities. I've joined several groups but I just can't seem to get connected. Any suggestions or tips on how YOU use Flickr?

[jpitz31]

One of the best ways to use flickr is upload a lot of your work. Join many groups that share your photography interest. For every image that you upload, make sure you post the images to as many groups that you can.

This way people will see your images more easily and then start leaving comments.

Also by joining groups that you share common interest in you can then feel comfortable in sharing your comments about other members work. This way you can build up a network of friends.

The more groups you share images with the more your images will be seen.

Thanks

Joe

[Jayden]

I'm glad I read this too, I'm deffinately not using my flicker account to it's fullest.

[Dangelica]

Couple of other things that are important.

1. Comment on other peoples work. Not just "Nice shot" Put some feedback in as to why you stopped on their work to take the time to comment.

2. Make use of exploring and find works that truly grab your attention and mark them as a favorite. Comment on why it is a favorite shot. People like to see who finds their work worthy of putting in favorites.

3. Tag effectively. If you take a shot of a rose don't just tag it rose. Tag it with its style, your camera ... eg for a rose i would tag it as follows:

Rose, color, petal, flower, species, macro, D80, location, botanical, hybrid, garden, and on and on and on.

as long as it is associated with your shot then it helps more people find it.

4. as stated above join relevant groups. But don't just join for the sake of joining. Join to participate.

Active flikr accounts get looked at because you don't just have greater exposure you have community spirit that people want to share in.

[PamEli]

Great advice! I too have been trying to ramp up on Flikr, but often get bogged down with a busy life and start lagging on the uploading. Your post tells me I'm on the right track, just need to do more of it.

thanks,

[dcclark]

I can't over-emphasize the value of making good, useful comments on people's photos. Say why you like them. If you're in a critique group, also say what could be improved, but of course do so constructively.

I usually try to pick 3 or 4 photos in 3 or 4 groups each day, and comment on them, if I have the time. It does a great job of connecting you to others.

[BCampbell]

What's your goal?

If it's just to get more hits and comments on your photos well... that's just a popularity contest.

What are you using flickr for?

I use it primarily to host images for blogging and to easily create sets that I can use to show people specific work; i.e., shoot at a concert, share a link t the set with the band.

I don't care too much then about hits and comments on flickr itself. It can be fun to connect with people, but that's mostly just to pass the time, it's not a goal in and of itself.

[jpitz31]

You might want to to a bit more investigating about the benefits of flickr.

Getty Images has a deal with Yahoo and has taken over 6000 images from flickr and put them on the getty site. Getty is a very high end stock site.

Also there have been many photographers that have had there work published and or been discovered on flickr.

Not sure if you have heard of American Photo Magazine, it is a premier magazine for the professional industry. They discovered a flickr photographer, Nikon did a full page ad on her work and she is now doing professional work for very large companies.

I know several photographers who have found paying work by putting their work on flickr.

Thanks

Joe

[Jojie]

Originally Posted by BCampbell

What are you using flickr for?

Exactly my point! I have a pro account and am wondering what for. Given there area plethora of sites that you can host your imagery. But flickr is the most used (as far as I know) host and it's natural for us photo addicts to be on it.

But as I look into flickr more and the number of people in it -- we become numbers and need to go to groups to get recognized etc.. whhich then you'd have groups that are just way to many and you'd be spending hours on them.. erm that's me with lotsa groups for diff

So very good question - what for a friend of mine uses flickr and the API and uses the images as host to blog, and for his website... I use mine (for now just to host and blog etc ... not so much to obtain comments because I dont' have much friends in flickr.. just a handful -- but I use it also for the google tagging bit).... granted there are some groups that you can join and if you're imagery are good enough you can get places...

there are few other sites for free that you can upload as much as you like (but ofcourse some limitation on other things). Free flickr account has 300 only....


Personally, I'm using flickr at the moment to store my web quality images and share it on blogs etc.. upload to groups which has relevance to the type of photo/photography (and not expecting any comments back) and likewise upload to the geographcial location to where it belongs etc.

[BCampbell]

Originally Posted by jpitz31

Getty Images has a deal with Yahoo and has taken over 6000 images from flickr and put them on the getty site. Getty is a very high end stock site.

One only needs to look at the messages in the Getty pool to see just how infrequently photos are chosen from flickr. Sure, 6,000 sounds like a high number until you realize that that's about how many photos are uploaded to flickr every ten minutes.

There are plenty of threads about stock here, too. Most of them are similar "Has anyone made any money through stock?" And the answer is: yes, about forty cents. The stock photo market is extremely demanding and competitive, and it's dominated by a handful of people who really know what they're doing. Surprise, it's just like any other photo market, not an easy place for novices to break in.

Also there have been many photographers that have had there work published and or been discovered on flickr.

Not sure if you have heard of American Photo Magazine, it is a premier magazine for the professional industry. They discovered a flickr photographer, Nikon did a full page ad on her work and she is now doing professional work for very large companies.

I know several photographers who have found paying work by putting their work on flickr.

Yep, and I have been approached and made some small sales based on images on flickr. Good tagging and labeling helps here; in one case, an artist whose sculptures I shot contacted me and wanted more photos of them for her promotional materials. She found them because I properly labeled her name and the work titles. But come on; okay, one person was "discovered" on flickr, out of how many tens of thousands?

The point is, that is not "using" flickr. I didn't "use" flickr to get the assigment above. It was lucky, and just happened. That's not a way to do any kind of business; you don't sit back and wait for the world to come to you. That's why I say, what's the goal? If the goal is to sell photos, yes you can use flickr for that, but it's just a small piece of your overall marketing plan.

Originally Posted by Jojie

Exactly my point! I have a pro account and am wondering what for. Given there area plethora of sites that you can host your imagery. But flickr is the most used (as far as I know) host and it's natural for us photo addicts to be on it.

Personally, I'm using flickr at the moment to store my web quality images and share it on blogs etc.. upload to groups which has relevance to the type of photo/photography (and not expecting any comments back) and likewise upload to the geographcial location to where it belongs etc.

And that's smart. One of flickr's huge advantages is that the images it stores are of extremely high quality. A place like Photobucket or Facebook is going to compress your image and you'll see some degradation. Flickr also has good SEO integration, if you know what you're doing; proper titles, tags, and descriptions will go a long way toard getting your photos ranked highly in Google.

It all depends on what you want to do. I'm not a fan of watching stats and making a goal of getting lots of hits. But I've had some success in channeling traffic to my blog through flickr. That just one use.