- A basic membership is free
- Pro Membership: $24.95 per year.
- Widely recognized and popular photo sharing web site
- Upload 100MB of photos per month - no limit to the amount you can store
- Get rid of red eye or crop photos with the easy to use editor
- Add a map to show where your photos and videos were taken
- Easily create slideshows of your favourite snaps
- Upload photos from your desktop, by email or by mobile phone
- Use collections, sets and tags to organize your photos and videos
- Join groups to find people with similar interests to you
- Add stylish or wacky effects to your photos
- Get your photos printed onto a wide range of items
- Pick up prints from your local Target store (U.S only)
- Superior security features to control access to your photos
- Specify a usage license to protect your copyrights
- Easily link your photos from all the popular blogging systems
- Get updates from family and friends
- Developer API available
- Guest passes to give access to your photos to people without Flickr accounts
- Select areas of an image to leave notes on
- Unlimited bandwidth and storage with ad-free browsing for Pro members
- Basic membership is free!
- Works with almost any device that can run a web browser
If you have ever heard anything about photo sharing web sites, Flickr is probably one of the names you have heard banded around. It is one of the longest established photo sharing web sites on the internet and has a huge user base that regularly use the site. There is a big focus on tagging photographs to make them easy to find and joining groups to share with other people with similar interests. Essentially, if you can't find a photo of something on Flickr it's probably not on the internet!
Starting with a minor nuisance with Flickr, just to get it out of the way, we should say that before you can really start viewing photos on the site you will have to sign up for a free account. While this is easy to do, it's a bit of a hassle if you don't have an account and just want to view a few quick snaps a friend has uploaded from last night. However, once you are logged in, the site is very easy to use and photos load up very quickly. You can arrange your photos into sets or collections based around themes as well as, of course, creating simple albums for your snaps. The interface is very fast to use and looks great, but it isn't quite as flashy as some sites we have looked at. However, this can be a good or bad thing depending on how you feel about trading speed for extra bells and whistles.
Uploading photos to Flickr is a breeze thanks to the range of handy upload tools. There are dedicated desktop apps available for both Windows and Mac as well as a range of third party applications that have been written by enthusiasts or other developers. You can also get plug-ins for iPhoto on the Mac or for Windows XP that make uploading a matter of clicking one button. It is also possible to email photos directly to your account - either from a desktop computer or your mobile phone. Flickr also make a developer kit available so if you are a budding programmer you can write your own apps that take advantage of Flickr's functionality. Even if you don't have any Bill Gates aspirations you can still take advantage of the numerous tools and mash-ups other people have created.
Flickr offers the possibility to get your favourite photos printed onto various different items such as mugs and sweatshirts. You can also get high quality albums and books of your photos sent straight to your door. Straightforward prints are available too, in a variety of different sizes, and if you live in the U.S near a Target store you can arrange to pick them up there. You also don't need to worry about people infringing your copyright as Flickr's comprehensive security controls allow you to specify a usage license on your photos.
Flickr is an excellent photo sharing site with the one minor drawback of any visitors having to have an account to view their snaps. The bandwidth for uploading photos each month is also quite limited, but technically you do get unlimited space. If you opt for a Pro account the bandwidth restrictions are lifted, you can upload HD video and browse photos ad-free. For the very reasonable price that Flickr charge we reckon this is well worth the money and would recommend anyone to upgrade their account. Whatever you decide to do Flickr still provides an excellent level of service and would be an excellent choice for anyone.
Click the button below to check out Flickr.com for yourself...
