Flickr as Home Server

[Peter Lewin]

I've noticed that many of you are using Flickr as your "home server" and then posting images on this site by pointing to the original on Flickr. This seems to allow for better-looking images on this site compared to those images which are uploaded directly to the LFPF server, since it makes sense that Flickr has greater capacity, and uses less compression, than the LFPF server. That said, I need a little advice:

(1) Flickr seems to be geared towards digital capture and upload, since that is far more common than scans or Photoshopped image files. But for LF, uploading scans or image files is the only option. So what sizing are you applying to files you send to Flickr? Are you uploading files sized for screen display, or files sized for 8x10 printing, etc.? (Some actual pixel or inch dimensions, resolution, and file sizes would help - I'm just learning this stuff! I would also prefer answers which apply to the free use of Flickr, rather than the paid professional option, which doesn't apply to me.)
(2) From what I understand, Flickr stores (or displays?) images in different sizes. If it actually stores the same image in different file sizes, which file do you point to using the LFPF link?
(3) I assume using Flickr is easier than trying to work with the free hosting services which are also available on the web. If not, which hosting service would you use instead?

If, as a digital beginner and Flickr neophyte I'm asking the wrong questions, please educate me as well! Thanks.

[jp]

1. Flickr is also used by many analog photographers. One of my daily Internet activities besides visiting here is to head on over to flickr and see what my contacts are up to for analog (and digital) photos. THat it is mostly digital is simply a reflection of the current state of photography, rather than being meant for digital only. I also use it to see how other photographers use certain lenses and films and how they handle geographic locations I'm apt to visit. I can see how people use heliars for portraits with a rather simple search. I can see digital exif data from photos at Boston Garden/td bank center arena before visiting there with my film camera to understand lighting levels.

2. I upload 1500 pixels in the largest direction or sometimes a tiny bit more. No sense to upload something massive; risk of re-use as well as practical reasons. No sense to put up something small like LFPF would use as changing display resolutions will make such images look bad in a year or two. I see what size image I like on my screen that would look good in the LFPF post and use that image URL.

3. I use the flickr pro ; it's cheap. I also have my own real colocated hosting server running Gallery, because I'm an IT nerd by day. It works reliably, but gallery needs frequent security updates and seems to gather comment spam. It's not for everyone. I don't trust the free image hosting services otherwise, with popup/annoying ads, adult/warez oriented, etc..

[C. D. Keth]

I use the free version of flickr. It's easy image hosting, respects copyright, and also has a lot of communities and galleries to look through.

I usually upload a 50% JPG of my images. I don't sharpen what I upload to flickr, generally. I then link on this forum to the 1024 size for landscape orientation images and the 800 size for vertically oriented ones. Those are about the largest that will display at once, without scrolling, on my browser screen. I think I'm fairly average in my browser settings so hopefully it displays well for others, too.

Here's a link to a 1024-size (1024x812) horizontal:



and a 800-size (800x657) vertical:

[Peter Lewin]

Christopher: What is a "50% JPG?" Do you mean you play with the dimensions until the file you upload to Flickr is 50% of your original scan (e.g. if the original scan is 10mb you experiment with sizing until the resized file is 5mb?)?

[C. D. Keth]

Christopher: What is a "50% JPG?" Do you mean you play with the dimensions until the file you upload to Flickr is 50% of your original scan (e.g. if the original scan is 10mb you experiment with sizing until the resized file is 5mb?)?

Nah, nothing that scientific. I just resize to 50% pixel size and save as a jpg. Then I resize that to 40% (making a 20%-of-original size) and save that as a jpg. I use the 20% ones for facebook, where I'm not so sure how much they respect copyrights.

[Preston]

Peter, here's another thought.

Check with your internet service provider (ISP) to see if folders are available under your account to which you can upload images and then link to them. That way, you have control over image size and not run the risk of violating terms of use of a site like Flickr.

--P

[Peter Lewin]

Back with more questions! I now have four images on Flickr which I would love to post in their respective "post your image" threads. When I go to the picture on Flickr, I can do "actions", "image size" and select the size which looks appropriate for this forum (medium 640 looks good for my horizontals, haven't looked at the verticals yet). But when I go to "share" I can only get the URL which takes me to the flickr page, not just the image (i.e. the URL looks like www.flickr.com/photos/peterlewin/8261775708) and it doesn't seem to give me a size choice. I can grab the HTML code for the image size I want, but the HTML code is disabled on this forum. And if I use a URL, how do I comply with the Flickr terms of use requirement for providing a link back to Flickr?

I'm really sorry that these questions are so elementary, I wish there was a real "Posting Images for Dummies" sticky, which included the information on using home servers beyond that of the FLPF.

[Tony Evans]

Peter,I might not be sure of your problem. However, here's some info JIC.. Right Click on the image at selected size, click Properties at the bottom and copy the URL. This can be pasted here on the Forum or anywhere else.

[Peter Lewin]

Peter,I might not be sure of your problem. However, here's some info JIC.. Right Click on the image at selected size, click Properties at the bottom and copy the URL. This can be pasted here on the Forum or anywhere else.

Unfortunately this isn't moving me forward. I use an iMac, so there is no "right click" option. But if I go to the "master image" (the one I see in Flickr in my image stream) and click on "actions" "all sizes" I get the menu of size choices. I then pick the size choice I want, and the image in that size appears on my screen. Below the image is a bar saying: "Looking for the HTML code and Photo File Link? Check out this FAQ", and if you click on that, you get the Flickr FAQ:

"The HTML code to embed a photo in a web page that you used to find on the All Sizes page is now only in the Share menu above the photo, to the right of the Actions menu. We now also include BBCode! (standard message board code) ... The direct link to a photo file is no longer shown on the page. Per the Flickr Community Guidelines "pages on other websites that display content hosted on flickr.com must provide a link from each photo or video back to its page on Flickr." Linking directly to the photo file doesn't do this."

So I follow the instructions in the FAQ, and get two choices: the URL to link to the Flickr page (not the image itself, but the page you will see if you click on the URL in my earlier post above) or the full HTML code which I can't use in this forum, because the forum has HTML turned "off."

So stated as simply as my limited understanding allows, the LFPF option for attaching an image requires a URL, and Flickr won't give you a URL for the image, only a URL for the Flickr page which contains the imbedded image and a lot of other stuff. But I know I'm missing something, because I see lots of images in the "Post Your Images" threads which indicate that the image came from Flickr.

[TXFZ1]

Goto photo, use the share dropdown menu, grab HTML/BBC code, choose a size from the dropdown menu, grab the code and paste to website.

David