Getting more out of Flickr

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

How I’m getting more out of Flickr

I have a free account with Flickr at the moment. And I am finding more and more ways that Flickr can help my photography skills and my communication and networking with others.

I have found that Flickr groups are great for this, and makes Flickr a truly interactive photo sharing site. It was just a case of choosing a group or groups that I wanted to join and then I could join in with the discussions and submit photos or do the challenges. Finding other photographers and commenting on their photographs has givien me inspiration and taught me a lot.

Free account or Pro

What I have now realised is that a free account while free, and giving immediate access to the Flickr network does have it’s limitations. Like a 200 photo upload limit that can be viewed and a limit of 3 sets per account. This wasn’t something I had thought about when I opened the account as I was going to be using it for my Project 365 so I didn’t over load my blog (this one). But now I want to share more than just my Project 365.

I was starting to wonder why there was a lot of pro accounts around and now I know why. With a pro accont there is unlimited uploads and sets and stats etc…

I don’t want to sell the pro account here, but I am going to upgrade my account because Flickr has become a more important tool for me than I expected it to be. So I want to continue to use it to it’s full potential and not be restricted. Of course there is a fee for this of $24.95 for a 1 year account (not too bad).

My Flickr groups (at the moment):

Learning photography with Neil Creek
Project 365
Your Photo Tips

My Flickr Photostream

Mandy

Did you like this article? Then please subscribe to my RSS Feed!

Finding a Good Photography Project

There are loads of good photography projects around. There are a couple of regular ones on blogs that I follow that I like to take part in, like at Neil Creek’s blog. But he hasn’t got one on this month so I’m looking for something new to try.

I also take part in some Flickr group projects that I’ve joined recently which are normally weekly, and then there’s always my Project 365, so doing something else as well could be too much.

But I’ve just come across a new site called Photo Challenge which runs monthly projects (every other month). In July the project is Lighting Fixtures, shooting one daily throughout the month and submitting it to the group. I love lights and lighting so this one definitely appealed to me, and although I found it a little late I’m going to give it go.

Mandy

Did you like this article? Then please subscribe to my RSS Feed!

TPB Monthly Round Up #5

This is the monthly round up for June. I think the service I have used the most this month and got the most out of is Flickr, I have learned so much about it and used it so much this month, that I want to share some of the information I found:

I have started using and being active in Flickr Groups this month, which I think are one of the best features of Flickr. The one that got me started was a new one called Learning Photography with Neil Creek which I am really enjoying. I’m meeting lots of like minded people who have a fantastic selection of photographs, and I’m having a great time getting to know them. I definitely recommend joining a group, I had followed Neil’s blog for some time though so I had an idea the group would be good!

The Flickr groups have been a great place to find other really good photography blogs. Here’s one I found through Neil’s group: Your Photo Tips which also has it’s own Flickr group. So I think the overall benefit I like the best about Flickr, is it’s fantastic networking opportunities.

All this talk about photographs has got me joining another photography project over at Adidap - All Day I Dream About Photography. This time the goal was to take a photograph or your bedroom or something that is in your bedroom (always). This was a bit challenging as the bedroom is quite a personal space, but I gave it a go anyway…

Mandy

Did you like this article? Then please subscribe to my RSS Feed

Iron Chef Photography: Shoe Project

Do you enter Photography Projects?

There are lots of photography projects around to participate in covering just about everything. So far I’ve only submitted to one project back in March but I want to do more, I think they are a great way to learn and challenge myself. So I’ve entered another one…

Above is my entry for Neil Creek’s Iron Chef Photography: Shoe Project that he runs on his blog. Submissions have now closed for this one, but that means the voting is about to start (and will end on 29th June).

The aim of the project besides taking photographs of shoes was to tell a story with the photograph. And that is what I have tried to do. I did actually climb the hill, and then took my shoes off to take the photograph of them!

It was very simple to enter the project, I just had to upload the image to my flickr account and then enter the address on the form. But it could have been on my blog or on any other photo management site as well.

There’s a public vote for entries as well as the judges vote so you may like to drop by and take a look?

Mandy

Did you like this article? Then please subscribe to my RSS Feed!

TPB Monthly Round Up #3

Here’s the TPB monthly round up for March, doesn’t time fly!

I’ve found some really interesting information this month, so without waffling on too much about it here they are:

You may have heard me talking about the Photography 101 course that I am following on The Digital Photography School blog, well they are written by an Austrailian photographer called Neil Creek who has his own blog and is also part of the new fine art photoblog. Both sites are really good with some fantastic photographs, I could learn a lot from these guys.

I’ve also opened my first Flickr account this month for sharing my Photo 365 pictures, I knew nothing about Flickr before this month, and I’m finding it to be a really useful and easy to use photo management system. It’s full of features and I’m sure it will take a while for me to get acquainted with them. I’m hoping to set up my flickr photo stream on my blog, so we’ll see how long it takes me to figure that one out!

And last but not least I have discovered Squidoo, well I’ve known about it but I haven’t used it until this month. It’s a service where you can set up a web page or ‘lens’ for free to do with an interest or hobby or just about absolutely anything you fancy. So I have started some on photography, it’s a great way to promote a blog or site that you are involved with and would like more people to know about. You can make as many ‘lenses’ as you like and change them as often as you like so it’s nice and flexible.

Mandy

Did you like this article? Then please subscribe to my RSS Feed!

Photography 101 - 2nd Lesson

This week the second lesson of the Photography 101 course that I’m following is looking at lenses and focus.

Looking at the theoretical side to bending light, lenses and focusing. Some people haven’t liked the fact that the two lessons have been based around theory, and want to get down to the nitty gritty of taking photos. But I can see where Neil Creek who is writing the course is coming from.

It’s a long time since I was in a physics lesson, which I did used to enjoy. But at the time I didn’t see the relevance for physics in everyday life outside of a lab, yes I liked the cool experiments that we did, but I was only young and more interested in the latest rock and pop bands of the day!

But now I can see how physics is a fundamental and very important part of photography and me being able to do it better. If I can understand the basics of how light behaves and how my equipment deals with that, then I am in a better position for making the right choices in settings and lenses when taking photographs. I always find I am better at understanding something if I know how it works rather than just being told it works.

I’ve found these lessons really interesting and I’m learning a lot, or should I say remembering a lot (of physics anyway)!
Looking forward to lesson 3…

Mandy

Did you like this article? Then please subscribe to my RSS Feed!

Photography 101 - First Lesson?

Did anyone else go over to the Digital Photography School blog on Monday and read Neil Creek’s first lesson of the Photography 101 course, Light and the Pinhole camera?

I did and I found it really interesting. He is starting with the basics of how photography works which I like, because the better the foundation and knowledge of how photography works the better understanding I will have to take photographs.

Light

He starts off with a basic introduction to light and how it behaves, which takes me back to my physics lessons in school. Seeing as you capture differing levels of light to make an image it’s good to understand a little about light.

Pinhole Camera

Next he looks at how you can capture that light, by explaining about Camera Obscura’s which have been used for 1,000’s of years and are the forerunners to the modern camera. The idea is you have a box (which can be room sized) with a pinhole in one end, the light will then travel through the hole and hit the opposite side or wall to form an image (upside down). Obviously the box has to be light proof except for the hole. Camera Obscura’s were used by artists who would use paper or canvas on the opposite wall of the camera obscura to trace the image produced by the hole.

Pinhole camera’s work the same as camera obscura’s and are usually made out of some sort of box with photographic film or paper attached to the back side to capture the image. You can see how camera’s developed from this, the hole being the aperture of the camera.

Homework assignments

At the end of each lesson there are a list of homework assignments that you can do if you would like, this week I have chosen to make my own camera obscura - hopefully!

The idea being that you choose a room with one window and completely cover the window with card or foil blocking out all the light, and then put a pinhole in the covering, you should then see an image appear on the opposite wall (hopefully) of the outside, but upside down. I’ll let you know how it goes!

There are several room size camera obscura’s around that you can go and visit instead of making one, here’s a few:

Royal Observatory Greenwich, London
Dumfries Museum & Camera Obscura
Griffith Observatory, California
Havana, Cuba Camera Obscura
North Carolina Museum of Art

Mandy

Did you like this article? Then please subscribe to my RSS Feed!