A FLICKR TUTORIAL FOR Digital Scrapbookers & Photographers

During the podcast recording earlier this week, Steph mentioned that she needed some help figuring out how to upload multiple photos to Flickr at the same time. I (Katie) remember having the very same question when I was starting out on Flickr, so we figured that there were probably some of our readers out there feeling the same way. We decided it was time for a step-by-step Flickr tutorial here at The Daily Digi!

HOW TO UPLOAD PHOTOS AND LAYOUTS TO FLICKR:

You can download a Flickr uploading tool to your desktop, but I  prefer to use the uploading tool built right into the website. Go to flickr.com and if you have an account there (free or paid) you should see your own photostream. Use the upload photos & video button on the top right side of the screen.

Click on the “Upload Photos & Video” link and you will see this screen

When you click on “choose photos and videos” you will need to locate where your pictures are on your computer (or external hard drive) and open that folder. In my case, they are in a folder on my desktop so I go to that folder.

I have a lot of pictures that I’m going to upload all at once so I use my favorite trick of holding down the “CRTL” key while selecting each photo I want to upload using my mouse. You can click on this image to make it larger if needed. You will see that each photo I have chosen is highlighted with a light blue color. That lets me know that my choice of selecting more than one photo is working. This is a basic computer trick that works in most programs (not sure if it’s the same for a MAC?). Anytime you want to choose more than one file at a time, just hit the CTRL button at the same time you make multiple selections.

If you wanted to upload only 1 picture from that file, just click on that picture. Then you can repeat the process with different folders if needed.

Once you have selected all your photos, you will see them all in the file name area. Click “open”

this will lead you back to the Flickr Upload page where you will see multiple files waiting to be uploaded.

You can repeat this step as many times as desired before hitting the upload button. I usually just work on one folder at a time though. Be sure to select your privacy settings here to make it easy. I chose “Private” and “Visible to Family” for these photos. If you want some photos in the batch to be made public, and some private, you can always adjust that a little later on.

You will see a progress bar (in pink) develop as your photos upload.

You can see that each file is uploading by watching the progress.

I have a very fast internet connection (lucky me!) so I was able to upload 35 full resolution photos (a total of 57.23 MB) in less than 3 minutes. Your time might vary.

Now comes the fun part – “add a description”. You might be tempted to skip this step, and that’s just fine if you want to, but you will really save yourself searching and organization time later on if you fill in a few tags, descriptions, and/or put the photos in a set (like an album).

Click to enlarge if you want to see more detail.

I keep my descriptions pretty simple, but you could also add in some detailed journaling for each photo if you wanted to.  All 35 photos in this batch were taken in 2010 in Ophir, Utah so I used those as tags to apply to the entire batch. You can also add individual tags to each photo if you want to. You can also open up the organizer tool here for even more options.

I have a set (album) for all my 2010 photos so that is where I put these photos. I have several sets in my flickr account. You can see how I have them organized if you are interested. If you want to have several sets, you will need a pro account which is $24.95 a year.

If you want to upload digital scrapbook layouts, follow the same procedure as above. You will want to upload your full size jpeg images. I like to include the supplies used in the description area of the upload. I also include my journaling in the description so it is easier to view. This is just a matter of personal preference.

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WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR PHOTOS AND LAYOUTS ON FLICKR:

Now that you have your photos and/or digital layouts uploaded to Flickr, what’s next? Here are a few great options:

• Just leave your photos on Flickr for storage. Flickr is a great offsite backup option, especially if you have a pro account because you can access the full size resolution photos at any time. They are never deleted unless you go against community guidelines. As of today I have I currently have 20,144 photos/layouts uploaded to my Flickr account. Those are all being stored (while still remaining accessible to me) for only $24.95 a year. I can’t think of any other site that would come close to offering me that type of storage for such a low price!

• Share your photos with family and friends. You can send them links to your photostream. If they join Flickr, you can add them as contacts (which is like adding them as a friend). You can make your photos viewable only to family, or for certain groups, or for the entire world. I do a some of each of these options. Here are some of the digital scrapbook pages I have made with The Digi Files. I share this set with everyone. Other photos and/or sets are just for my family.

• Share your photos and/or layouts with groups of others with the same interests. I sure hope you will add The Daily Digi’s flickr group of Digital Scrapbook Inspiration to your list!

To add your layout to our group, just choose the actions menu at the top left of the photo and select “add to/remove from group”

Then choose the group you want to send it to.

You will need to join the group first. When you find a group you want to join, look for the join link at the top of the group page.

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• Access your photos when you need them. If you don’t have all your photo files with you at all times, you can’t use them. If you have a Flickr account and an internet connection, you can download any of your own full size resolution photos at any time. I often find that I can find one of my photos in my Flickr account faster than I can by searching through my external hard drive. When I’m blogging or scrapbooking, I often go to Flickr and simply download the photo from there. Fast and easy! Just go to Actions on the top left of your photo and choose “view all sizes”

Then choose to download original size. Or if you simply need a blog image, you can download a smaller size.

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A FEW MORE RESOURCES FOR MAKING THE MOST OF FLICKR:

Something Fun for you on Flickr

20 Reasons Why You Should Use Flickr

How Photo Sharing Works from How Stuff Works.com

Digital Scrapbooking Inspiration Group

Flickr is a BIG place! It is consistently listed at one of the top (or THE top) photo sharing website on the internet. There’s a lot that you can do there, so don’t get overwhelmed. You can use the basic features, or become a die-hard Flickr “Fanatic” like me! Whatever works for you.