Have you ever wanted to create your own magazine cover? Online photo management and sharing programs are quickly emerging as one of the best ways to spend your free time and create amazing projects. Flickr is an online photo management and sharing tool that allows members to upload, create, and share photos, videos, and projects with others.
Setting up an account with Flickr is free to the public, but you can upgrade to a Flickr Pro account for $24.95 per year. The free version of Flickr is limited and you may not be able to create some of the projects you have in mind.
If you start with a free Flickr account, you can upload 100MB worth of photos each month. This is a bandwidth limit, not the actual amount of space you have with Flickr services. On the first of each calendar month, your bandwidth allowance will be reset by Flickr. You cannot reduce your bandwidth amount by deleting photos. If you start hitting your monthly bandwidth limit, you should upgrade to the Flickr Pro account. Another option you have is to shoot your photos are a smaller resolution or resize them to be “web friendly.”
Choosing Your Name
If you are using Flickr for professional reasons, you want a name that is a closely related to your professional name as possible. By making your Flickr account name close to your professional name, the search engines will be able to find you easier. You should also use your professional name in your Flickr profile. This will help your name to appear in the search engine listings more often.
Setting up Your Profile
Your profile is the best place to write a brief description about yourself and the work that you do. Include your contact information and if you have another web site, be sure to link to it here. Try not to make your profile too long as many people won’t bother to read it.
Public or Private
If you are trying to establish your photography business, you should set everything to public. The more people are able to see your work, the better. You should also set your photos to be bloggable to encourage others to promote your work. By setting your photos to ‘artwork/illustration’ instead of ‘photograph’, people can find your work easier and are able to download them faster. If you have any artwork that is considered ‘unsafe’, you need to set your level carefully. This may limit who is able to view your art.
Tag Your Photos
Another thing you need to do is tag your photos. Tags are one of the best tools you have available with Flickr. You can search for your photos simply by using the tags instead of through traditional search methods. Tags also make it easier for other people to find your work because they too can search for just tags instead of through the entire site of Flickr. Be sure to make your tags specific and not too broad like “scenic” or “painting.”
Once you have established your account with Flickr, it is time to start uploading photos and creating projects. If you run into trouble, the Flickr FAQ pages can help.
Another thing you need to do is organize your photos. Your Flickr account can be more professional and accessible if your photos are in collections and sets. Your Flickr page can be set to show both your photostream and your collections or sets. By setting it to both, people will be able to instantly find your art without having to browse through hundreds of other people’s images.
