General Photography Chat

[Ayreonaut]

The only limit I've found on Flickr so far is 20mb per photo. Which is very reasonable, I should resize my panos anyway, that way I can post "original" size rather than large, which is usually way too small.

[hammersklavier]

Originally Posted by edmontonenthusiast

Yes, but Flickr is 100% unlimited if you pay for pro. Picasa isn't last time I checked. In fact, doesn't Picasa only allow you a certain number of images (like 1000 or 1gb or something?) and that's it?

I'll address that problem when I get there.

I get 1024 mb free, sez the bottom of my page. And then I can upgrade beyond that. Or--since I'm a cheapskate--farm my portfolio out over all the main free photo-hosting sites first.

Oh, and by the way, if I were willing to pay the $250 for it, I can get up to a terabyte of storage. That's 100 gigs, I think.

EDIT: Even more clicking reveals the max is $4000 for sixteen terabytes, and that the free storage is 7.63 gigs. Which I'm using a pittance of.

[Aleks]

1 terabyte is 1000 gigs.

anyways, i like flickr. will get a pro account soon. i also have a picassa account. and a tinypic, and 4 photobuckets, and 1 imageshack and... i think thats it. well, facebook and myspace, but theyre not really meant to share photos (at least that wasnt the whole purpose).

[ue]

Those prices are still way, way more than 24.95 a year for unlimited storage (again...unlimited...aka, no limits. Upload a megabyte or a terabyte).

That and I prefer Flickr's layout and that more people will see my photos and I can see more of others photos.

[vid]

One of the other problems with Flickr (not unlike the annoying gifs meme that Aleks pointed out here) is people uploading their photos to 75 groups (the maximum allowed), usually ones with "you must respond to 4,285 photos and favourite 648 of them and then rape a puppy" demands, just so that people will comment on their photos and get them into Explore. I know a couple people who know just what buttons to push to get a photo into Explore and they do it almost every single time, but the photos really aren't all that interesting. They just get shitloads of people tricked into seeing them.

I've basically given up on even promoting my photos. When people view them, it's because they looked for them. They chose to see my photos, they weren't tricked into it by some groups infantile regulations.

Originally Posted by hammersklavier

free storage is 7.63 gigs. Which I'm using a pittance of.

Do you have a Gmail account, and does uploading to Picasa affect its storage limit?

[mr.John]

I've basically given up on even promoting my photos. When people view them, it's because they looked for them. They chose to see my photos, they weren't tricked into it by some groups infantile regulations

And what's the point with contacts ? (I have about 80 so-called contacts) but if I don't put my photos in a least a dozen groups I get a total of zero views.... plus you have to put up with does annoying people who practically demand you put your photo in their group

[flar]

I opened a flickr account a couple weeks ago and uploaded 37 random pics, just to check it out. I don't really have time to get into the social aspects of flickr. So far I have 1 comment, 12 views and no contacts.

It seems like there are just too many photos and too many people on flickr for it to be useful. SSP is the best place for me to show my photos, seeing as the subject matter of my photography and the audience are well matched.

I use photobucket for hosting, and I've never had a problem or any downtime. My account currently has between 750,000 and 1,200,000 views per month, mostly from SSP.

[Ayreonaut]

Almost all of my contacts on Flickr are SSPers.

A friend of mine is a great photographer, I've been trying to convince him to open an account, even threatening to throw a tantrum if he doesn't, but no luck so far.

[vid]

Originally Posted by mr.John

And what's the point with contacts ? (I have about 80 so-called contacts) but if I don't put my photos in a least a dozen groups I get a total of zero views.... plus you have to put up with does annoying people who practically demand you put your photo in their group

Most of my contacts are people from Thunder Bay, and I've met at least half of them. Most of the rest are people I know here, and a handful are people I've met on Flickr by just commenting on photos. Most of my views are from contacts (they know me or want to see my photos) or search results (I tag my photos extensively and they turn up in results all the time. Not "wanting to be seen" as much "obsessive compulsive about finding specific photos again by using tags".)

You don't have to put your photo in a group, and you can delete the comment if you want. If they become annoying you can even block the individual.

A lot of my contacts are part of the Thunder Bay and Skyscraperpage flickr groups. Skyscraperpage's group is pretty slow but the Thunder Bay one has about 40 regulars and we all know each other pretty well so we check out each others photos.

There are groups for every city. If you live in Calgary, there is a Calgary group. (There are probably several of them.) If you live in Toronto there is one for Toronto, as well as groups for the former cities (like Scarborough) and notable neighbourhoods (like The Annex), so if you join them, start talking, go to Flickr meets, you get contacts.

I average around 100-150 views per day without doing anything, but when I upload photos I average an additional 20 views per photo. (Most of my photos are view about 10 times before I upload again). Most of that comes from contacts, the handful of closeknit groups I've joined, and search result from Yahoo, Google and Flickr. (Strangly, Bing never comes up.) I'm a member of 29 groups (I regularly contribute to 6 or 7 of them) and have 141 contacts, though many of them aren't very active anymore. (Swede hasn't uploaded a thing in more than three years.)

[ue]

Originally Posted by mr.John

And what's the point with contacts ? (I have about 80 so-called contacts) but if I don't put my photos in a least a dozen groups I get a total of zero views.... plus you have to put up with does annoying people who practically demand you put your photo in their group

Usually you have to actually get into contact with those contacts. I think I have over 200 contacts now, and I'd say 180 of them at least are of no use to me at all as contacts. Come to think of it, maybe I should just do a clean sweep?

One needs to comment and give feedback, or start up a discussion if one wants to get a contacts attention (usually). Contacts are a mutual thing. Usually, if you look at their photos, they'll look at yours.

This is the best "social" aspect of Flickr, and there are some really nice, brilliant photographers to get in touch with (many too are on SSP). I did (unfortunately) participate in some of those glittery image groups vid is referring to (although I didn't comment 600+ or anything, and I found the groups rather dry). But really what do they add for a photographer? "Comments", and that's it. And those comments are of no use, they don't critique, or give real feedback beyond fluff like "great shot", "very nice" and other BS. Then there's the "comment groups", where the rules are to give honest feedback, and all people ever do is "great work", when I wanted some real feedback. I only participate in one group right now that actually helps me with my photography, a critique group - Nikon Photo Critique.

I also hate it when people spam your photos to add your photos to this particular group. Ok 1 or 2 pics, but I get 5+ sometimes and it's a waste to me. Invite one picture, and if I'm really interested, I'll add more, seriously.

The only social aspect that works for me therefore for the most part is contacts. Usually you like each others images and have talked a little, and it's not a forced "well she commented on 2 of my photos, I guess I should be polite and take a look at two or three of her photos or something" (although sometimes, yes, and that's when you don't associate with those contacts anymore).

[Doady]

I have to agree with some of what has been said. I think many people comment on my photos just to "expose" their own photos, and there are a very small select few that actually look at my photos out of genuine interest. I don't expect people to reciprocate my comments because I don't like how people give pointless praise to one of my crappy photo just to get me comment on their photos, or something.

I'm only in 2 groups so far, but I am planning dropping one because it is so large (1000+ members!) it is kind of pointless. I have never been sure which groups to join, so my participation in groups has been limited. I am not a good photographer, so a small group where people actually like to discuss photos instead of just showing off would be nice. I have turned to certain photography forums for more meaningful feedback, not to mention more exposure.

[Aleks]

i love flickr because i can look at wonderful pictures by just typing something and clicking my mouse. i don't have to search much to find amazing pictures. when i comment on someones pictures i dont care if they'll comment mines back. and i dont expect someone to favorite one of my pictures after i favorite one of theirs.

there's so many things on flickr that i can easily look at wonderful images and separate them from the rest. plus viewer feedback also helps because those which get more views/comments are usually the better ones on flickr.

[hammersklavier]

Originally Posted by vid

Do you have a Gmail account, and does uploading to Picasa affect its storage limit?

You know, I honestly have no idea. I mean, the account I use for my Picasa and Google maps is tied in with my university email, and I only made my Gmail account, which I cannot tie into the prior account, later. So it's like I have two separate free Google accounts I can use. Go figure, huh.

Also, given the amount of cost it takes for the webhost to store the darn things, I feel like $24.99 for unlimited storage is almost too good a deal...
(A large part of that might be that most amateurs don't really store too ridiculously many photos as it is. Pros, on the other hand, do need to concentrate the buffest parts of their portfolios. And in addition, I'll bet the Google storage is the combined storage of Picasa, Google Maps, Gmail, etc.)

[vid]

You can create as many Google accounts as you want. I have two.

[ue]

^^It's not to good to be true, it's just a really good deal. And I think it helps Flickrs success.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Originally Posted by vid

One of the other problems with Flickr (not unlike the annoying gifs meme that Aleks pointed out here) is people uploading their photos to 75 groups (the maximum allowed), usually ones with "you must respond to 4,285 photos and favourite 648 of them and then rape a puppy" demands, just so that people will comment on their photos and get them into Explore. I know a couple people who know just what buttons to push to get a photo into Explore and they do it almost every single time, but the photos really aren't all that interesting. They just get shitloads of people tricked into seeing them.

I've basically given up on even promoting my photos. When people view them, it's because they looked for them. They chose to see my photos, they weren't tricked into it by some groups infantile regulations.

lol. I was going to comment on the post one, comment on five groups. I think I have one photo that is in more than one group and I have none in comment-whore groups.

Number of photos in groups: 165
Number of photos not in groups: 3,620

It will be a cold day in hell when I get a photo into explore.

[Aleks]

GOD I FUCKING HATE THOSE! omg! they piss me off so much! both the stupid gifs and the 'post 1, comment 378468456892465'.

like i said, i love flickr because it isn't hard to find amazing photos. For example, this photo is by 96dpi. he doesn't put his picture in 40 groups, he doesn't get 456 comments, but he's still one of my favorite flickr photographers.

and this is yushimoto_02, which is also another of my favorite flickr photographers. he doesn't send his pictures to 60 groups, but he gets like 90 comments in 3 days. but then again he has like a billion contacts. he's still a good photographer though.

I'm not gonna lie, i've tried to get my photo's into explorer, but i don't overdo it.

[ue]

it always amazes me those who get 50+ comments per photo regularily. i'd love to get that much feedback, but you look at at least half their comments are invites, thank you for bringing this in this group, or small, generic comments like very nice, good shot, nice, i like, etc.

i used to post almost every single photo of mine into groups, but now...not so much. i still do, here and there, but the only one's i regularily post photos to are nikon photo critique (which is a pretty good group, and not all about the "gifs") and the main edmonton group, as well as the ones i admin. i found it not really awfully worth it and it didn't help anybody (myself too) much.

i used to get a decent amount of photos on explore, it peaked around last summer, but since the fall i think ive gotten 1...maybe 2. but, i really don't care because unless you're in the top 10 (which is usually rigged)...it doesn't do a whole heck of a lot. the main thing i like is interacting with contacts and getting feedback. i don't need 50 glittery butterflies and dolphins or 1000 faves or whatever. also i'd rather have 3 helpful comments than 9 of pretty photo, good, etc.

[giallo]

I normally post photos of mine that I like in multiple group, but never, ever in the post-whore ones.

Posting your photo in groups can get you some wider exposure. Couple that with multiple tags on your photos, and you'd be surprised how many people will see it.

I could care less about comments or explore, I just want to sell my shots.

[bulliver]

Originally Posted by giallo

I normally post photos of mine that I like in multiple group, but never, ever in the post-whore ones.

Posting your photo in groups can get you some wider exposure. Couple that with multiple tags on your photos, and you'd be surprised how many people will see it.

I could care less about comments or explore, I just want to sell my shots.

Do you get a lot of cold contacts asking about buying shots from flickr?
I've gotten a couple but it it always turns out to be cheap bastards wanting to use my stuff for free....