Quite a few readers have been asking why Flickr not Picasa or Photobucket. With any luck this last post in our Flickr series will help explain as I demonstrate some of the creative ways Flickr can be used.
Creating Cool Stuff From Your Flickr Photos
One of the best aspects of Flickr is they allow outside (“third party”) applications or websites to communicate and exchange information with Flickr. This means you use public Flickr data like photos, video, tags in new and different ways plus easily search for creative commons images.
My favorite websites for creating cool stuff from Flickr Photos include:
- Dumpr – check out this slideshow or my Dumpr flickr set to see what the images looked like before and after modifying using the different Dumpr tools
- Big Huge Labs fd’s Flickr Toys – check out this slideshow or my fd’s flickr toy set to see what the images looked like before and after modifying using a few of the different fd’s flickr toy tools. Note: Photobucket also links easily to fd’s Flickr Toys
- Picnik – photo can be edited directly on Flickr using Picnik
- Spell with Flickr – how cool is this writing with Flickr?
Using A Unique Tag To Bring Flickr Photos Together
A cool way to bring your photos or photos by a group of people together is to use a unique tag.
For more information on tags and tagging refer back to Quick Start Tips For New Flickr Users: Part I.
For example, by using the unique tag educhristmas08 educators shared photos of how Christmas and the holidays were celebrated in their part of the World which was then embedded as a SlideShow into a blog post.
Please Note:
- There is a trick to embedding code into blog post so that it embeds properly and doesn’t cause problems in Internet Explorer.
- Follow the same steps outlined for embedding videos when embedding any code into blog posts!
Locating Creative Commons Images
Flickr is a popular source for finding creative commons images due to:
- the quantity and quality of creative commons images hosted on Flickr
- “third party” websites that make searching Flickr images fast and easy
Popular tools for searching Flickr creative common images include:
Copyright and creative commons are important topics that you need to teach your students. Here are some posts that may help:
- Copyright and Using Images in Blog Posts
- Finding and Adding Creative Commons Images To Your Blog Posts
FINAL THOUGHTS
Take the time to explore Flickr thoroughly for yourself because it has so many excellent features which I haven’t be able to cover. If you are an experienced Flickr user – please let me know if I missed any important aspects.
The other posts from this series are:
- Quick Start Tips For New Flickr Users: Part I – setting up your account
- Quick Start Tips For New Flickr Users: Part II – using as part of your personal learning network (PLN)
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Hey, zooomr.com can be an alternative?
Thanks Sue, I always learn something new here. Had not come across Behold. One of my fav flickr tools is flickrstorm.
My favorite Marie is definitely Compfight as it loads up the most images the quickest.
I subscribe to your site via RSS but don’t often spend a lot of time actually on your blog. Every time I do though I get a lot of value out of your posts. Keep up the good work and many thanks for the helpful posts.
Thanks Dan – glad you find my posts helpful. Always looking for topics to cover so please let me know if you have any thing you would like me to post about.
I agree with Dan… I’ve been learning a lot from you, Sue. Thanks. Check out the snowman at the museum on our classroom blog. I went back and linked my snowman to your blog so others can learn more… Hmm. I see below you must have already seen it.
Mary Ellen
http://teacher102.edublogs.org/
Hi Mary Ellen – yes that is the best aspect of the pingback. I checked it out immediately when I received the email. Just need to go back and leave a comment now.
Hi Sue,
Thanks for the great post! I would like to do a Flickr slideshow but embed it in my sidebar rather than in a post. Is that possible?
Thanks!
Betsy in Chicago
Hi Betsy – let me say firstly what a good question. Hadn’t considered putting it in blog sidebar. Then I shall praise myself and say —- I done it 🙂
But will get back to you as I think there may be a better option 🙂
Is there a public university that loaded its image collection on FLICKR or another application for public use?
Here is the link to where the World’s public photography archives can be searched on Flickr. Is that what you are after, Eric?
I have always wondered how people got words spelled out in images. Well now I know. Thanks.
I have let people at the ning images4education know about this idea.
Yes everyone has been excited about Spelling with Flickr. The image4education looks like it is going well.