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I’ve been asked a few times why I’ve decided to use flickr as my image hosting site instead of some of the many other options available to me. If I’m going to be completely honest, it’s that it was the only one I’d heard of when I got my account back in 2005.
But let’s forget about that for a second, and instead concentrate one why I stay at flickr. It’s because of all these additional things I can do at flickr other than just host my images. Keep in mind, this is written from a die-hard flickr user’s perspective, and I don’t have experience with any other photo-sharing site, so other sites might have these things, too (let us know in the comments!).
Did you know you can edit your photos on the flickr site? They have partnered with Picnik to provide users with some editing tools at the touch of a button. All you have to do is click the “Edit Photo” link above of your photos, and Picnik opens up:
While some tools are only available to people paying for a Picnik Premium account (a separate account than the flickr Pro account), even non-paying members can rotate, crop, adjust exposure and contrast, sharpen, reduce red eye, or even apply effects like boosting color, or adding a vignette.
For more information about Picnik and how to use it, see flickr’s Picnik FAQ.
Groups are probably my favorite thing that flickr has to offer. It’s a way to organize like-minded people and photos together. Groups are created and maintained by other flickr users and it allows people with similar interests and/or photographs to come together, see each other’s photos and socialize. While there are TONS of groups out there, my favorites are of one of these types:
I already mentioned picnik above for editing photos, but there’s a lot of other sites that have ties into flickr that allow you to use their site easier. For instance, I know a lot of people love moo.com for their cute mini-moo cards, business cards and more. While you can upload photos from your computer, if you’re using a flickr account and already have the photos there, you can easily import the photos. Flickr has listed a handful of third-party sites with flickr integration here, but another one of my favorites not listed is bighugelabs.com. Like moo.com, you could just upload photos from you computer, but entering in your flickr id makes chosing phtoos even easier. They offer a number of different ways to turn your photos into something more – like adding special effects, making calendars, adding a frame and more. The one I use most often is the Mosaic Maker, which I used to create this collection of fall photographs I took last year.
So what’s your favorite thing about where you host your photos? Did I miss something great about flickr, or does the site you use offer something more? Let us know in the comments!
About the Author: Jennifer Jacobs is an amateur photographer who runs iffles.com – a site for photography beginners. She’s also addicted to flickr and you can follow her stream here.
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