Flickr Toys

If you’re just uploading your pictures to Flickr and occasionally looking at others’ pictures, you’re missing half the fun. There are a staggering amount of tools available to Flickr users to do all kinds of things with your pictures. Here are some of our favorites, along with sites that have many more to play with:

To start, you don’t even have to log on to Flickr to upload your pictures. Uploaders allow you to send your pictures to your Flickr account directly from your desktop, along with using titles, tags, and other metadata. The official uploader supports Windows and Macs, while third-party uploaders allow you to send your pictures through Apple’s iPhoto (Mac only) and Linux, too.

Once your pictures are online, you can create all kinds of ways to show them off. If you broadcast an RSS feed, you can include a Flickr stream to send out new pictures from your account. Another great way to display your pictures is by putting a “badge” on your site that links to your Flickr page.

In addition, you can send pictures straight to Flickr from your mobile phone’s camera with applications like Shozu, make calendars of your pictures, photo cubes, and much more. Check out these links to find more ways to use your pictures:

• Big Huge Labs: Small, specific tools written by a Flickr enthusiast named John Watson. Though they’re designed to be used with Flickr, some of them can be used with any digital pictures.
• Flickr Bits and Pieces: A collection of applications found around the web to enhance your Flickr experience.

Feeling ambitious? Write Your Own Flickr App! Check out some examples on their page of how some people took the API to create applications, or use it as another resource to find more Flickr tools.

Learn more about how to place a request for Flickr Pro accounts on TechSoup Stock, made available to nonprofits and libraries thanks to a generous donation from Flickr.

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