Flickr Guide: How to Do Everything with Flickr
So what do you want to do on Flickr?
Q: I want to download all my photos from Flickr and burn them on to a DVD.
A: Get Flickr Down – it’s a tiny Windows utility that lets you download pictures from Flickr in bulk without requiring authentication. Mac and Linux users may try Flump.
Q: I want to use my Flickr account to bookmark all interesting pictures that I frequently encounter on the Internet.
A: Get the Flickr Uploadr addon for Firefox. It lets you post pictures from a web page directly to Flickr with a simple right-click.
Q: I know Flickr offers a search engine but it won’t display more than 24 pictures at a time. Is there a better alternative ?
A: Switch to either Compfight or PictureSandbox – these are some of best Flickr search tools on the web, even better than Flickr’s built-in search engine.
Q: How can I upload video clips to Flickr from the desktop. The Flick Uploader works only with images.
A: Flickr has already added video support to the Flickr Uploader but the tool hasn’t been released officially yet. You may however download the new Flickr Uploadr here – it supports video and images.
Q: I am looking for photos on Flickr that have shades of red. Does Flickr allow search by color ?
A: Flick doesn’t support color search yet but you may try MultiColr, Color Selectr or Colr Pickr – these are Flickr mashup that display photos from Flickr which match some particular color. The advantage with MultiColr is that it lets you look for multiple color tones in the same photo.
Related: Get Color Scheme Ideas With Kuler + Flickr
Q: I need pictures from Flickr for my school project that look like a sad or angry smiley face.
A: Go to Retrievr, draw a sketch of the smiley face and this tool will try to retrieve pictures that match your sketch. Could be a great option for searching pictures that cannot be described in words.
Q: I am worried that people may use my Flickr photos without attribution. How can I protect my Flickr images ?
A: You may consider adding text watermarks to your Flickr images. PicMarkr can do that for you or you use Picnic that’s built right inside Flickr.
Q: I need to embed a Flickr badge or a live slideshow on my website that will display my latest Flickr pictures. Any suggestions?
A: FlickrIn could be a good choice here – it’s available both in Flash and JavaScript format. Another option is FlickrSlidr.
Q: I want a Flickr Screensaver.
A: Get the Google Photos Screensaver (it comes free with Picasa 3). Go to screensaver option and attach your Flickr RSS feed to the screensaver.
Q: I want my desktop wallpaper background to show Flickr pictures.
A: Get the Switcher – this program will change your desktop background at periodic intervals taking pictures from Flickr – you can select pictures by user, tags, or just plain random so you never know what the next wallpaper would look like. Fleace is another option.
Q: Can I upload PowerPoint presentations on to Flickr as a set ?
A: Not directly but there’s a workaround – PowerPoint lets you export all slides as an image that can be uploaded to Flickr in one set (or use a common tag). While Google Docs or SlideShare are better places for sharing PowerPoint slides, you may still want to use Flickr as it will attract traffic from Image search engines like Google Images.
Q: OK, enough serious talk. I want to have some fun with Flickr photos.
A: Get CoolIris to browse Flickr pictures in a 3D wall. BigHugeLabs, PimpAmPum and Dumpr too offer a nice collection of Flickr toys for you to do fun stuff with Flickr pictures.
Amit Agarwal
Google Developer Expert, Google Cloud Champion
Amit Agarwal is a Google Developer Expert in Google Workspace and Google Apps Script. He holds an engineering degree in Computer Science (I.I.T.) and is the first professional blogger in India.
Amit has developed several popular Google add-ons including Mail Merge for Gmail and Document Studio. Read more on Lifehacker and YourStory
