Flickr – Woollywotnots Midweek Inspiration 3

Woollywotnots' MidWeek Inspiration

Hi Everyone, it is Wednesday and therefore time for some midweek inspiration! This week, I’m suggesting you have a delve further into photo-sharing sites; used by millions of users to show pictures that they have taken. Have a look at Flickr.  Flickr is a supportive and positive environment. Browse through it, searching for photographs tagged with terms that are interesting to you. Anyone can browse the Flickr site, but you have to become a member before you can upload images to it. Registration is free. Here is woollywotnots’ flickr collection.

Search facilities enable you to perform various kinds of searches on the database of Flickr-hosted images. Read this brilliant post by Lifehacker if you’re new to Flickr.

What do I like about Flickr?

• Searches are precise
• Post constructive comments. There’s a space under each photograph for comments. If you’re a registered member and you want to comment on a picture, you’re free to do so.
• If you’re enjoying a colour day, search for photos tagged with specific colours, for example, Purple. You can find photos tagged with a colour or a specific material. The ‘tagging’ facility in Flickr is very important. It allows photographers to attach words to their images which describe or categorise them in a way that is personal to them. Each image can have multiple tags.
• You can organize your photos into sets and collections.
• You can find very specific things eg a particular flower or type of bird.
• You can search within groups, tags, descriptions and find photos taken with a particular camera.
• You can share photos of your favourite things, pets, cities.
• Get feedback on your work
• Explore new ideas
• You can find other people who share the same interests
• Enter challenges Project 365
• Find inspiration
• Share photos and control who sees them. Takes away the use of having to email photos to friends and family. Photos can be shared widely instead of ending up in shoeboxes
• If you look closely at the Flickr site you will see that it provides several ways for people to communicate and collaborate.
• You can ask permission of another Flickr member to add him or her to your list of ‘contacts’. If your invitation is accepted, then a selection of their most recent pictures will appear in your space when you log in – and vice versa. This gives you an easy way of keeping up with their photography (and, by inference) their activities. Many people use their Flickr accounts, for example, to provide a visual record of their travels, holidays, work and other activities.
• Members can set up groups or join existing groups. Groups can either be public, public (invite only) or completely private. Every group has a pool for photos and a discussion board for talking. There are two categories of membership in each Flickr group –administrators and members. Groups can be based around shared interests, obsessions, occupations, geographical locations, academic courses – in fact around virtually anything.
• Even a casual exploration of Flickr leaves one with two impressions. The first is the sheer volume and diversity of people’s photographic output. The second is how good some of the images are. The vast majority of those using the site are not professional photographers, yet they often create images of high quality, originality and – sometimes – beauty.
• There are now sites like istockphoto that enable anyone to offer images for sale – at prices that are considerably less than those charged by more conventional stock-photo agencies.Istockphoto members whose uploaded images are purchased receive a share of the fee charged!

So, go play! Here’s some suggestions on getting started:-

1. Search for images on Flickr on a subject that interests you. You can search the entire database, your own images, groups, members and geographical location

2. Visit Flickr’s Tags and explore some of the tags. Tags which appear in large print are ones that are especially popular at the moment.

3. Search Woollywotnot’s knitted collectables and reply to this post with your favourite.

4. Make a mosaic using Flickr tools Mosaic Maker

 What else can you use Flickr for? Share your ideas in the comments.

Previous midweek inspirations by Woollywotnots can be read from these links:

Colour in your home

Brain Exchange

Flickr Love

Thinking about the future

Lists

Developing your colour sense

Sources of Inspiration

Time with Friends

Your Car

Back to School

Finding your mojo

Weather and Seasons

Trash to Treasure

Pay it forward

Sound of Music

Lost art of letter writing