Flickr is getting ready to roll out a new design and interface. I’m not sure I really like it, though – seems to run a little slow, kinda hard to find things.
Some things are better, though – adding your photo to groups is much more efficient (once you figure out how to do it).
Guess we’ll see what comes of it…
Favebrowsr, today
This is really more of an observation about Flickr than anything else, but I’ve noticed: if you lock down your files in Flickr (no download, no seeing other sizes), but upload a larger-sized photo (compared to the on-screen display of a Flickr image), the full size is actually available to anyone who tries to access via the Flickr API.
Take this pic, for example. I favorited it just a short while ago. On screen, it’s fairly small – maybe 400 pixels wide.
Flickr Favebrowsr
I wasn’t in too creative of a mood when I named it, but I was enchanted by the concept. I forget where I saw it, exactly, but someone had built a beautiful way of surfing between user’s favorites. It was wonderful, but: it required giving up personal info (email address, or logging in) and the images in all screens were too small for my tastes. Some of the behavior wasn’t all that I wanted, either.
So I built my own.
You see the results to the right – and the link to the far right.
I’ve been messing around with Flickr for a short while now, mostly to get a sense of what people like. I’ve come to the conclusion that Flickr isn’t the best place for that. This isn’t to say that people on Flickr have bad taste, but rather to say that they have different tastes. If you are trying to sell (or otherwise impress) to people for prints, then Flickr is probably the wrong area.
For example, compare these two photos:
Eklutna Lake at Sunset (HDR)
Drops of dew
First, you see them small, here on the screen. Then look at them in their larger view (click through to Flickr & choose “all sizes”). Compare them.
Which one do you prefer? At which size? Based on responses on Flickr (not the “nice jorb” type of comments, but traffic, favorites, etc), the HDR of Eklutna is the superior pic. And yet, I neither prefer it nor believe it. In the smaller size, the HDR is certainly easier to make out. But in larger sizes? I prefer the Drops of Dew pic. If this were to be printed out? I suspect anything larger than 8×10 would be better with the Drops of Dew pic, as well.
I guess my point, in the end, is this: if you’re looking to sell a print, many times the format of Flickr makes it the wrong place to market your work. You’re probably better off printing the work and hanging it at a local coffee shop – at least there you will be showing exactly what you’re selling.