Photography Minute

Have a flickr account? Do you do a lot of uploading of files one-by-one or using Flickr‘s on-website upload system?  Did you know there are multiple options to upload to Flickr that are faster, easier and sometimes even much better?

Not surprisingly, due to the huge Flickr community, there are a few options for users to upload to Flickr.

Tools From Flickr

• Flickr Desktop Uploadr – version available for Mac and Windows.  This option is the quickest and easiest option out of all the uploaders. It’s fast and allows you the options of selecting or creating sets and adding keywords.
• Upload via Email – As a Flickr user, you have the ability to send an email to a special email address with your photo. The email option allows you to add title, description and tags. According to Flickr, this option is meant for camera phones and not high-res photographs.

Third-Party tools

• jUploadr – available for Linux, Windows and Mac. This is a free tool that Flickr recommends.  Does not integrate with any photo management app so you’d have to leave your photography work-flow system, drag the photographs that you’d like to upload to Flickr onto this app and then upload.  While not ideal, it is a decent application and worth looking at if you don’t use one of the other options listed below.
• iPhoto ’09 – if you’re a Mac user and have iPhoto, you can upload directly from the app, but there have been a lot of complaints about the system. The interface is clunky and difficult to use.
• FlickeryApp – A Mac only application that let’s you manage and upload files to Flickr. Looks like it will work with Mac OSX, Aperture and iPhoto and costs ~$19 USD.  I haven’t tried this one yet but it looks promising as it adds some interesting features (share on twitter, etc) to the upload process.

Plugins for Third-Party Tools

• Lightroom – are you a Lightroom User?  If so, you must get Jeffrey Friedl’s “Export to Flickr” Plugin.  This plugin is donation-ware but is worth every single penny you will donate to Jeffrey.  Go get it now.
• Aperture and iPhoto – If you’re an Aperture user or iPhoto user, you can buy the FlickrExporter from Connected Flow. The cost is anywhere from $20 to $25 USD depending on the fluctuation of the dollar (prices listed in British Pounds).
• iPhoto (not including the ’09 version) – If you have a previous version of iPhoto, you can download the Free Flickr Exporter app.

Are you a Hacker / Geek and want to automate the process?

If so, there’s an option for you too! Check out LifeHacker’s description of automating the process of uploading a folder’s contents to Flickr.   You’ll need Python and some scripting skills but you’re a hacker right? If you don’t know what ‘python’ is, it’s very safe to move on to my recommendations below.

My Recommendation

If you use Lightroom, use Jeffrey Friedl’s “Export to Flickr” Plugin!  All my photos are uploaded to my Flickr Photostream through this plugin.  It works wonderfully and Jeffrey has even integrated a Twitter notification into the upload process.

If you’re on Aperture, use FlickrExporter. It’s a great tool and works wonders.

If you’re not a Lightroom or Aperture user, I’d stick with the Flickr Desktop Uploadr…it does have a few minor kinks in it but it works well overall.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Flickr uploading alternatives for the discerning iPhoto user (arstechnica.com)
• Flickery 1.7 offers even more Flickr fun (tuaw.com)

Related posts:

1. My Digital Workflow – an intro
2. Metadata and your Photos
3. Camera Dojo releases Monochrome Lightroom Presets
4. 10 Inspiring Sunset Photos on Flickr
5. Learn Aperture while Photographing Yellowstone