Last night I gave a workshop at my library on how to use flickr for online photo sharing (thanks to everyone who contributed). It went well, and I thought I'd post the handouts here (no slides, since it was a live demo in flickr). Feel free to use or repackage this material for your own purposes. The online version is below, and here are pdf and Word versions:

• Adobe PDF, 36kb
• Microsoft Word, 188kb

Introduction to Online Photo Sharing

1. The three main reasons to use an online photo sharing website with your digital pictures are:
   • They serve as backup copies in case something happens to your computer or camera
   • They are easy to organize and manage to find later on
   • They can easily be shared with other people (better than emailing!)
2. A short introductory video about photo sharing: http://www.commoncraft.com/photosharing
   
3. Visit the Library's flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chelmsfordpubliclibrary

Creating a flickr account

Flickr has both a free version (limited to 200 photos, 3 sets, 100mb uploads per month - http://www.flickr.com/help/limits) and a paid "Pro" version ($24.95/year with no limits or ads).

Flickr is owned by Yahoo.com, so you will need (or need to create) a Yahoo account to use flickr. (You'll only have to do these steps once)

1. Go to http://www.flickr.com and click "Sign In" and create your account
2. Read the Community Guidelines
3. Account Settings you should customize (click account name at the top right of the screen)
   Personal Information
   • Your buddy icon
   • Your screenname (this is what will show on flickr, not what you use to log in)
   • Your flickr web address (how people can find you)

   Privacy & Permissions

   • Who will be able to see, comment on, and annotate your photos
     • Only You, Friends and/or Family, Anyone
     • Guest Pass (share sets with specific people regardless of privacy settings)
     • Can be changed at any time, on a per-photo basis
   • What license will your photos have (http://creativecommons.org/about/licenses)

   There are lots more account settings that you can customize, but these are some you should customize

Uploading Photographs

Flickr offers lots of ways to upload photos - from the flickr website, from your computer, from your camera phone or by email. We'll look at using the flickr website.

1. Go to http://www.flickr.com and click "Sign In"
2. Click upload photos
3. Browse to the photos on your camera or computer
4. Set privacy setting, edit photo title, add description and tags (first step in organizing)

Make Notes and read Comments on your photos. Click the "Add Note" icon in the toolbar above each photo to highlight a specific area of your photo. Other flickr users will leave comments below your photos, and some will mark your photos are "favorites."

Organizing and Sharing Photographs

Create Sets to group related photos.

1. Click Organize > Your Sets
2. Add name, description and photos (drag and drop)
3. Photos can be added to more than one set

Add to Map to show where you've been or where something is.

1. Click Organize > Your Map
2. Find location on map (be as specific as possible)
3. Drag and drop photo onto map

Use Groups to share photos with other people who have similar photos.

1. Click Groups > Search for Groups
2. When you fin one you like, click Join this Group
3. Add photos to a Group's photo pool by clicking Groups > Your Groups

View Your Contacts photos to see what has been recently uploaded by people you know or like - you can also Invite people to view your photos even if they don't have a Flickr account.

Use a Badge to automatically show your photos on your website.

Print Your Photos right from flickr - choose the size and finish, and they will mail them to you.

Edit Your Photographs Online

Flickr uses Picnik to allow flickr users to edit photos right online. To do this, click the "Edit Photo" icon in the toolbar above the photo to edit, and this will import the photo into the Picnik editor.

• Picnik allows for color adjustment, red-eye reduction, cropping, resizing and more
• Some features are "Premium" - you have to pay to use them
• "Pro" flickr users can replace photos; free account can only create new photos
• Lots of other online photo editors are available, but this is the only one integrated with flickr

Glossary of Flickr Terms

Badge: A way to add photos from your flickr account right to your own website

Collection: A group of sets (can also include photos not in sets)

Contacts: Other flickr users you have chosen to add to Your Contacts page; can be Contacts, Friends or Family

Description: Text describing a photograph (shows below the photo)

Discussion board: Online discussion forum available for group members to talk to each other

Favorite: Marking a photo a "favorite" adds it to Your Favorites page, to make it easy to find later

Geotagging: Adding location-related metadata to your photos to make them findable by where they were taken (this happens automatically when you add photos to your map)

Groups: A group of flickr users with a similar interest, and share information via a photo pool and a discussion board

Metadata: Information about your photos used to organize and find them. Tags, titles and descriptions are examples of metadata, but your camera will also automatically add shutter speed, exposure, white balance, etc. to your photo's metadata

Note: Text describing a highlighted section of a photograph (shows right on the photo)

Photostream: The photos uploaded to a flickr account

Picnik: The tool flickr uses for online photo editing

Pool: The photos of individual group members that they have added to the group

Set: A group of related photographs

Tags (or tagging): Keywords added to a photograph to make it easy to find

Title: Short "headline" of a photo (shows above the photo)

More Flickr Resources

• Tour of flickr
• About Flickr
• Flickr FAQ
• 7 Things You Should Know About Flickr
• 275 Ways to Use Flickr

Other Online Photo Resources (no downloading required)

Photo Sharing:

• flickr.com - my favorite photo sharing website
• Webshots.com - Photos for social networking
• PhotoBucket.com - Photo hosting and sharing
• Snapfish.com - Sharing and printing photos
• Picasa - Google's photo sharing service
• KodakGallery.com - Kodak's online photo service

Photo Editing:

• Picnik.com - editor linked with flickr
• Splashup.com - very similar to Photoshop (perhaps not for the novice)
• PXN8.com - easy-to-use editor
• Photoshop Express - the online version of Adobe Photoshop
• Phixr.com - easy-to-use editor
• Fotoflexer.com - easily add effects and distortions to photos
• ShrinkPictures.com - resize photos
• Graphita.com - add word balloons, captions and objects to photos

Posted under Uncategorized on Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 at 2:59 pm, by Brian Herzog. Post and comments available via the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.