Preparing photos for Flickr

I just uploaded some of my photos from BlogHer '06 to Flickr. Flickr has gotten so easy to use, it's a pleasure. The free Flickr Uploader makes fast work of uploading and tagging a batch of photos.

Before uploading I do some quick adjustments in Photoshop. I add a Shadow/Highlight adjustment (Image>Adjustments>Shadow/Highlight) or a Levels adjustment (Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Levels) to those photos that need lightening or added contrast. Then I run the Image Processor that's built into Photoshop CS2 (File>Scripts>Image Processor) to quickly resize the photos to fit in a 400x400 pixel space, saving them as jpegs to a new folder. Then I upload the entire folder of fixed images using the Flickr uploader. It's a cinch.

Submitted by Jan Kabili (view blog

) on Tue, 08/01/2006 - 10:22am

Posted In

Comments (5)

Twitter

Facebook

StumbleUpon

Comments

Hmm

I don't really edit any pictures that I upload to our flickr. I occasionally mess with brightness and contrast when I'm feeling particularly artsy. But our camera is great with adjusting the light, with or without flash. It can make a poor photographer seem great. ;) Occasionally a few come out dark but I snap so many pictures it doesn't seem to matter. ha!

But the flickr uploader is my friend! Especially since I uploaded 220 unedited (meaning... HUGE!) pictures from our week at camp the other night. Selected entire folder, entered the information for a new set and walked away!

Family Living; Hatfield Style
Jenna

Submitted by JennaHatfield on Tue, 08/01/2006 - 10:36

Jenna:

Of course you don't have to do anything to your photos in Photoshop before uploading them to Flickr. Maybe I'm too much of a perfectionist, but I want my photos to look reasonably good before presenting them to the world. I've also been able to save some otherwise unusable photos (like those with extreme red-eye, or those that come out too dark because the flash on my point-and-shoot camera isn't powerful enough), so that I feel OK about posting them. You might also want to use Photoshop to crop your photos to improve the composition or to get rid of content you don't want, as Jilbean suggests in her comment.

If those things don't bug you, you can just upload photos straight to Flickr. There's even a resizing mechanism built into Flickr that pops up when you try to upload a very large photo and asks if you want to downsize.

Jan Kabili
Blogher Contributing Editor Technology & Web
Also blogging at The Unofficial Photoshop Weblog

Submitted by Jan Kabili on Tue, 08/01/2006 - 12:36

Flickr

I usually just crop pictures I add to flickr - as I am not a photoshop pro at this time....

www.spilltojill.com (advice Blog)
www.jilbean.blogspot.com (personal Blog)
www.jilbean.com (personal site)

Submitted by jilbean3 on Tue, 08/01/2006 - 11:25

I always edit my photos

I always edit my photos before uploading. My camera isn't really a DSLR so the pictures usually need a bit of help to come out looking the way I actually saw them (or close to it). I don't consider this cheating at all...I consider it a nice way to avoid subjecting the people that view my stream to complete crap. I try, anyway :)

Here's what my BlogHer set looks like.

Submitted by Twinmama on Tue, 08/01/2006 - 23:08

I am once again trying to learn PhotoShop

Can I just say that the program ain't easy???!! Nor intuitive.

For uploading to Flickr, I always tweek my photos, usually using ImageZone. But I want to do more (like add text) so something like photoshop is necessary.

Just wish they made their tutorials, and the whole learning curve clearer. I watched Heather Champ working it during BlogHer last weekend, and she rocked!! Made it look, not intuitively obvious but do-able. I can only hope.

Debra
A Stitch In Time
Deb's Daily Distractions

Submitted by debra roby on Wed, 08/02/2006 - 07:05