Help me flickr! I want to be a better photographer!

(This post was written for the recent project over at Epic Edits.)

Is this too big an ask? Perhaps. Let’s examine the possibilities…

Upload only photos that you’re 100% happy with.

By following this advice you can create an online portfolio of your best work. As I’ll explain later, this is crucial for your development as a photographer. Not only that, uploading only your best means that regardless of your organisational habits (having trouble with these? Check out Neil Creek’s suggestions), you will always have access to a portfolio you’re proud of - this often helps with building confidence in the low times when you feel like you’re drained of creativity.

Restrict your uploads to one or two a day, but don’t feel like you have to upload something everyday. Restricting yourself in this manner means that you must be ruthless in terms of judging your best, resulting in only your truly great photos becoming part of your online portfolio.

Haven’t shot anything recently, but still want to share some work? Cruise through your archives. There are some gems hiding in there! Some may need processing, while others may have just been overlooked. As this post would be boring without any pictures, I’ll share one of mine.

The photo below was one I overlooked a while back when I was picking out my best from that day. All it took was a slight curves adjustment and the tiniest bit of saturation increase to make it something I was happy with. To think that until I looked through my archives this was relegated to obscurity!

Join groups that reflect your interest.

Groups are probably one of the most important facets in your development. They exist in almost any variety you can think of, from film specific groups to the disillusioned, completely random with a central focus, and, even groups where the only photos accepted are of the cameras themselves. Basically if you have an interest, type it in the group search box on flickr, and you should find a couple to choose from.

Once you’ve joined post your photos to these groups, using the send to group button above your uploaded photo. However, don’t just join a group purely to upload a single photo. Groups gradually become like your online family - sharing tips, comments, fav’s, critiques etc. - having one image in a group often means that you have little or no experience. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but I think it is important not to join a group if you don’t feel that there will be a mutually beneficial relationship. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t join groups that you don’t have images for, (in fact spending time reading forum posts [covered later] is a great way to find out more information about specifics that you are interested in. An example of this would be a macro dedicated groups), but rather that you should question your motives for joining. Keep in mind that your intention is to grow as a photographer and not just gain exposure for your work.

Spend time in the pools that most interest you. Comment on the photos in the pool. Insightful comments. Not just Awesome! Write about what you enjoy in the image and why. Perhaps a question on the technique. By engaging with people on a personal level you signify that you are someone who appreciates the time it’s taken for that person to learn the skills to take the shot, and that you are interested in learning from them. Essentially you set up a master/student relationship, just in an online context. A side benefit of this is that often those ‘masters’ will check back on your work, offering helpful tips. You may even find that they ask you for advice! Someone I greatly admire recently asked me about my Pentax 6×7.

Once you got the hang of groups, try out ones that encourage you to shoot new material in a creative way. Trevor Carpenter’s challenge group is one such example. Currently the group aim is to shoot a different type of colour for each February. A variation is the Exposure group. It doesn’t specifically have challenges, though the creators have a podcast in which they provide photography tips. At present members of the group have been posting images to the group which reflect the previous podcast on long exposures. Utata runs a challenge called Iron Photographer (search their archives for previous examples) in which you must create a photo out of the elements listed in a certain time frame.

Group Forums

Search existing threads before starting a new one! Nothing is more frustrating for regulars than a new member posting a thread already covered by 50 or so others in the archives! (Or worse still, creating a thread saying “I’m new here” - these threads are nothing more than shameless self promotions which will turn away more viewers than they will attract.)

If a thread exists, but it is old and sort of answers your question, but not completely, check the title. Does it relate to the topic? Will the right people check it out to help? If so, question away within the thread - a new response will rise it to the top of the thread list in the forum section. If the topic title doesn’t seem revealing, then you have the_wolf_brigade’s permission to start a new thread.

Spend time engaging with others in the forums. If someone sounds like they know what they’re talking about, without being self promotive, then I’ll often flick (pun intended) through their stream, commenting where I see fit. Not only does this help the person who’s stream you’re browsing, but if they find you helpful then they often check out your stream, returning the favour. Speaking of favourites…

Favourites.

‘Fav’ images that move you. ‘Fav’ ones that make you melt inside with admiration.

Review your fav’s regularly. While fav’s may reflect your moods to a certain degree, on a wider scale they reflect your aspirations.

Match your fav’s with your stream. See any correlation? This is where we can start to answer the original plea. Your fav’s will generally come from pools/groups you frequent and people you admire. In this sense your relationship with others becomes vital as you fav their photos, then comment and/or critique, helping you identify what it is about that fav that moves you.

Robert Doisneau once said that “creativity is merely undetected plagiarism”. Emulate your fav’s. Can’t get to that location? Think outside the box. Find somewhere similar and get copying!

Finally, contacts.

“a contact is a contact is a contact” by eskimoblood.

This is going to sound harsh, but only add contacts whose work you think will inspire you. It should be obvious by now, but just to reiterate, in order to advance as a photographer, you must surround yourself with creativity. Flickr provides a great opportunity for this, but you’ve got to treat it seriously. As I said before, my method may be a bit harsh. If you’re interested in a more polite approach, check out Brian Auer’s guide to Flickr Etiquette.

Check the ‘Photos from your contacts’ stream regularly. Maintain a reciprocal relationship with them through constant dialog. These are the people who will help you achieve that to which you aspire. Having a small group of contacts making it easier to manage this stage, especially if you subscribe to this stream via your RSS reader.

Regularly ‘preen’ your contacts. Remove those who no longer inspire you. Remember that a small stream of contacts is a manageable stream of potential plagiarism. Regular interaction with this, and your favourite groups is the key to exponential growth.

I would have loved to have added a section on my favourite flickr ‘hacks’ Unfortunately this article grew to a larger size than I expected. Thankfully Martin Gommel has this area covered. I would like to add that the Lights out greasemonkey script has become an invaluable tool, as I often don’t notice some things until my screen is free of distractions. If you don’t know what greasemonkey is, a google search will help you much more than I could even begin to.