Graffiti bridge, by Marius Waldal on Flickr

A community this huge is difficult for members to handle. There are so many members and so many photos. How do you find photos you’re interested in, and members that share that interest? Flickr has some tools to compensate for this.

Current tools for finding your way on Flickr

One is Explore; a showcase of the 500 currently most interesting photos on Flickr. Explore gives you a window into Flickr, a way to see a selection of popular photos (I recommend flickriver if you want to view the explored photos).

Another is groups. Members are free to start their own groups, and decide what type of photos are welcome in the group. A group admin can remove photos that are inappropriate, or even establish a moderation layer so that photos must be approved by an admin to be displayed.

A common way to find photos, of course, is to search. You use tags to describe your photo, and people can search those tags. But, mind you, as the Flickr home page states when I write this: 160,129 things tagged with morning. So you might not get exactly what you’re looking for

An important part of the social aspect of Flickr is the comment section underneath every photo. This enables you to receive comments, insights and tips from other members.

All good? Sure, but things could be better. These are the 3 improvements I would like to see, which would make Flickr a photo sharing service that kicks, well, ass…

1. Discussion-capabilities in the comments section

For me and many others, the comments section is often used for two-way communication; not only for “critique-and-run” comments. If I leave well-considered thoughts on other members’ photos, I would like to see how they respond to this. Today, the only way to do this is to regularly check the “Recent activity” function. This, though, has obvious limitations. Mostly because if there are more than 10 comments after mine, a potential reply from the photographer can only be seen if I go to the photo-page again and scroll down to see if there is a comment from the photographer (hassle!).

Suggested solution: Flickr could add basic discussion capabilities to the comments section, allowing threaded comments. An obvious feature would then be to offer the opportunity to receive a Flickr mail if any of my comments are replied to. Or at least enhance the Recent activity view to display discussion threads that include me, regardless of how many other comments the photo have received after mine.

This functionality is a must-have! Social services is all about communication, and functionality that cultivates this one-on-one “open” communication is therefore important (bear in mind: not even the “Discussion”-section support threaded discussions!)

2. Functionality for limiting who can comment on a photo

Yes, I know that I can limit this to my friends and/or family, or any contact. This, however, is insufficient. Many Flickr users have tons of contacts. It is not uncommon that these users receive hundreds of comments on a photo. I must admit: when I look at a photo and have constructive critique I would like to offer, I usually bail out if there are already gazillion comments there (often with blinking GIFs, awards etc). How will the photographer notice my critique in the middle of all that “noise”?

While it is nice to see that others like your photo (“awesome”, “stunning”, “fantastic” etc), it doesn’t give you much in terms of learning what works and what doesn’t work in your photo. Because of this “superlative abundance”, some members create their own “private” groups where only select members are allowed to participate. However, this does nothing to limit the number of comments from a person’s other contacts on a photo.

Some may say that one can add the group members as “Friends”. That is not a good solution, as many use the “Friends” role for other purposes, and this may contradict that use.

Suggested solution: Flickr could add another permission layer: Only allow comments from other members of groups where this photo is added. If I add a photo to a specific group for well-considered critique, only other members of this group can comment. If I add it also to “the world through my eyes”-group, all the thousands of members there suddenly get permission to comment.

3. Twitter-like lists of contacts

People use the concept of contacts for several purposes on Flickr. Whatever the reason, you may end up having lots of contacts. This makes it near-impossible to follow all contacts’ uploads (which you probably don’t want to anyway). And it also makes it very difficult to keep an eye on your “closest” contacts; i.e. those you communicate most with.

For those of you using Twitter, you may recognize the challenge: How to stay up to date with those 20 most interesting people when you follow 1000? Twitter solved this elegantly with “lists”. A Twitter user can create a list called “Photography” and add only those they follow that are into photography and tend to tweet about it. And a list can be compiled for any area of interest. Today I might be interested in reading my photography list. Tomorrow it might be rock climbing.

Suggested solution: Flickr should implement a similar functionality that Twitter did. This way, I can choose to follow only my “strobist” contacts for a while, or those into black & white photography. Or those who are Photoshop wizards. Or whatever. I’m in control.

Do you have other suggestions? Do you agree on mine? Please have your say in the comments!

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1. Explore yourself with a self-portrait project on Flickr
2. Fast and easy Flickr upload with FlickrExport for Aperture

365 days, 365 photos.

Think about it for a minute. It sounds easy doesn’t it? I mean, it only takes a minute or so every day, and you’re done, right?

#TwPhCh is Scary! (#222/365), by Christian Mohn

How I got my 365 project started

I decided, in the spur of the moment, to start my own 365 project on the 1^st of January 2009. To be honest, I hadn’t really thought it through nor really considered what was involved or how much work it really was. Perhaps that’s why I also managed to pull it off, the distinct lack of planning and complete spontaneity that triggered it. I gave myself little or no restrictions, only that I would shoot at least one photograph each day for the whole of 2009. I did not limit myself to a specific theme or technique, the main idea was to force myself into getting somewhat creative with my photography.

For me, the intention was two-fold;

1. Become a better photographer
2. Be creative

The basic idea was that if you repeat something often enough, you will get better at it. Lather, rinse, repeat.

The thing is, it sounds easy but as the days go by, you suddenly realize that you might be running out of ideas and inspiration. After all, most of us don’t lead spectacular lives with lots of traveling and new places to explore every day. Some days are just that, days that has no particular meaning nor did anything special happen. In my opinion, those are the days that are really interesting, at least when it comes to this project. It’s easy to document exciting things, family events and other “big” events that happen in our lives.

The normal, somewhat mundane, day is a different matter all together. These are the days that challenge you, almost dare you to do something creative and think outside the box.

Take Me to Your Leader (#48/365), by Christian Mohn

The important thing to remember is this; Don’t Stop! There will be times you want to give up. There will be times that you think that there is nothing left to take a photo of, but you are wrong. There is always a great photo right in front of you, just waiting for you to see it and capture it.

4 tips for a successful 365 project

1. Don’t forget your camera

   Bring your camera with you. Self explanatory, but important none the less. If you don’t bring your camera with you, how are you supposed to be able to photograph anything? Turn it into a habit. Take it with you everywhere, no trip is too small. There are photo-ops everywhere, and I mean, everywhere.

2. Be public

   Be very public about your project. Let people know, and even better get more people involved. Chances are that if you team up with others, publicly announce the project and otherwise market it in a way that people notice, you are more likely to actually be able to pull it off. After all, it’s much easier to give up of no-one knows you even started, right? You can even turn it into a competition if you like, all just to make sure you get the proper incentive to keep on shooting. Also, you do want people to see your photos, don’t you?

3. Publish as soon as you can

   Try to post your images online as soon as possible. I generally tried to post the photos the same day they were taken, but sometimes that’s just not possible. You might be traveling without online access, and that’s fine. If you can’t publish for a day or two, don’t worry. Just make sure you have taken the shots, and upload them as soon as you can. If you wait too long, your backlog will come back and bite you and perhaps even overwhelm you, and you don’t want that. Make sure you have an easy method of posting the images too, either to Flickr or some other service. The most important thing is that it should be quick and easy to get your photos published.

4. Play, learn and have fun

   This might be, besides having your camera with you at all times, the best tip I have to offer. Have fun! Play! Learn! Don’t be afraid to try out something new, and don’t be afraid of posting a less than perfect picture. This project should be all about enjoying photography and learning how to master your camera.

Tunnel Vision (#301/365), by Christian Mohn

What did I get out of it?

For one, I’ve proven that my interest for photography is genuine. Pushing through this project has solidified it as something I’m really interested in continuing to invest time and resources to. In fact, this project was pretty much the driving force behind replacing my old, and somewhat beat-up, Canon 350D camera and replace it with a shiny new Canon 50D.

Secondly, I’ve proven to myself that I can persevere and undertake ambitious projects. Sure, there were times I was certain that I wouldn’t, but in the end I’m very glad I did.

Has it made me a better photographer? I think it has, but you can judge that by going through my Project 365 on Flickr.

Editor’s choice

Thank you for an interesting article, Christian! These 5 photos are my favorites from your 365 Days project:

Everyday Attrition

Ghouls in my Coffee

Blue (Wants to be Real)

Plant of Color

Art Imitates Life

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1. Explore yourself with a self-portrait project on Flickr

Others share my thoughts. Therefore, someone started the group “52 weeks“; a project where you shoot and post one self-portrait every WEEK instead.

Missing you, by Marius Waldal

Even this requires a great deal of self-discipline, but it is achievable (for me). And there is another reason I prefer this: I imagine the quality of the portraits will be higher, as you have more time to plan and execute them.

One of the beauties of self-portraiture is that you always have a model at the ready! And you don’t need to feel self-confident when asking your model to perform certain tasks or acquire certain postures (at least if nobody’s watching!).

Doing self-portraits will teach you loads about portraiture and probably a few things about yourself as well. Also, I found it quite interesting to brainstorm ideas for self-portraits. Some of them will likely not be implemented, but some of them I’m really looking forward to try out!

Abandoned, by Marius Waldal

8 tips for a successful 52 Weeks project

1. Brainstorm ideas – Before you start, brainstorm ideas for types of portraits you can shoot. I myself have jotted down more than 20 achievable ideas up front.

2. Save ideas for a rainy day – Sort out 3-5 easy-to-accomplish ideas and put them away. You save these for upcoming weeks where you will either have little time to do something fancy, or little motivation. This will increase you chances of actually succeeding. Because if you fail one week, you have lowered the bar for allowing yourself to fail again. And if you do, you might lose motivation completely and throw in the towel. And you won’t be happy about it.

3. Get a smooth start – Sort out another easy-to-accomplish idea and choose this as your first-week portrait! When you begin such a project, your motivation is high. Getting a good start will solidify this motivation, while a poor start can be a killer.

4. Get moral support – If you’re already on flickr, talk to some of your contacts and tell them about your upcoming project. Explain that you are a little anxious about the whole thing and that you need their support! If they are good at encouraging you in the beginning, your confidence will build much more quickly!

5. Be active on the 52 Weeks flickr group! – Be generous with comments on other photographers’ self-portraits. You can get some tips on how to do photo critiques in this article, but as a general advice I recommend being less critical on peoples’ self-portraits than on their other photos.

6. Collect ideas from other participants – As you browse the group, write down ideas you get when seeing what others have done. Try to make your own twist on the idea. Just copying an idea from another is also ok, but it is polite to write in your description that you were inspired by another user and include a link to that photo.

7. Keep brainstorming – Every other month, sit down and brainstorm for new ideas. Don’t be picky. Any idea is fine at this stage. Even ideas that seem far out may trigger other great ideas later on.

8. From ideas to plans – Every week, spend some time going through your ideas from tip #7 and see if you can mold some of them into real assignments that you can use in your project.

I will do this project now! Will you?

February 1st 2010, week 5, I will begin my 52 Weeks project! I look forward to it, and I will be writing something about it here as well.

How about joining 52 Weeks yourself? You know you want to…

Have you done this already? Are you doing it now? Great! I would love to hear what you think!

If you liked this post, you may also like:

1. Why I did a 365 project, and why you should too!
2. 20 inspiring examples of monochrome portrait photography
3. 3 things Flickr needs to become a kick-ass service

White feather on rust, by Marius Waldal

Where to give critiques

Visit a site like Flickr, browse through images and spend some time analyzing each. If you see a great photo, try analyzing why the photo is great. What works? How are the elements ordered? What creates visual harmony (or visual tension)? What compositional tools has the photographer utilized to compose the scene? Look for lines, colors, symmetry (or asymmetry), balance and angles.

I really recommend that you join a site like Flickr and give photo critiques on a regular basis. You will learn a lot from doing this. And as an added bonus, those you critique will probably visit your profile and give you critiques back. This will enable you to look at your own pictures in new ways, learning a whole lot in the process.

What is a photo critique?

Sunny autumn colors by Marius Waldal

Writing the critique

You should start by writing a few words about how the photo affects you, how you “read” it. Maybe even say something about what you think the photographer is trying to convey with the photo.

Continue by considering the technical qualities in the photo. Is the focus ok? Do you see imperfections in the image, clipped highlights or blocked shadows, familiar objects that has an incorrect color rendering?

Then, focus on what you like about the photo. In most any photo there is bound to be some points that are positive. Write what you think works well in the image. This may be technical, compositional or artistical.

The photographer should be pretty warm by now and have the impression that you’re giving a serious critique. So now is the time to comment on the weaker points, but with a constructive basis. Write something about what could be done to improve the image, or what you would have done differently should you try and take the same photo.

Wrap it all up with a conclusion.

For an example photo critique by framed reality, see this link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ashumittal/4114761522/

FlickrExport dialog (click image for large version)

This nifty little plugin appears as a new choice on your Export-submenu.

Instead of exporting a down-scaled JPEG to a folder and then pick it up again from your Flickr account, you do the whole process in the plugin, from choosing the desired size, giving the photo a name (you can have FlickrExport use the version name as default name), editing tags (if you don’t want the exact same tags on Flickr as you use in Aperture), choosing what groups you want the uploaded photo added to, choosing a set to include the photo in (or create a new set on the fly), and there’s even an option to add a GPS-location to it using Google Earth or a GPS track file.

Worth every penny, if you ask me. And no, I wasn’t paid to say that. I bought it and I like it!

Do you have tips to useful Aperture plugins? Or did you download FlickrExport after reading this article? Share it with us in the comments!

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1. 3 things Flickr needs to become a kick-ass service
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3. Explore yourself with a self-portrait project on Flickr