Do you love taking pictures? Do you enjoy showing off your finished craft projects to your friends and family? You should keep reading!

With the myriad of websites out there that allow you to share your information with the world, it can sometimes be entirely intimidating to dive into yet another one. But there is a great site out there for crafters and bloggers who love taking and sharing photos! This article will walk you through how to use Flickr and show you exactly how not intimidating it is to set up and account and start posting your pictures!

What is Flickr?

Never heard of it? That’s okay! Flickr is an online photo album that allows you to share and organize your photos in one easy place. You can search for photos and even join groups that fit your interests where you can see and share photos on a specified topic like quilting, crochet, or just general crafts!

Why Use Flickr?

Flickr is a great way to share and organize your photos in one place where you can easily share them with all your family and friends. It allows you to share photos you upload to multiple social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, or a blog at once. Friends and family can also find you on Flickr and see all your new craft projects and family photos instantly!

How to Start a Flickr Account?

Registering for a Flickr account is very easy. If you already have an account with Yahoo! you can sign in using that information on the home page, if not just click the Sign Up button and a screen like this should appear:

As you can see it gives you several easy options to sign in. You will need to create an account with Yahoo! if you do not have or would not like to sign in using Facebook or Google. Once you’ve signed into Flickr, just follow the easy on-screen prompts to upload your profile image, fill in the information you want to share with everyone, and choose a username.

Once you’ve filled out all this information you should get a confirmation email and you’re ready to start uploading photos!

Uploading Photos to Flickr

Flickr walks you through uploading photos with step-by-step on screen prompts,  making it really easy for you to add your photos.

To get started click the “upload” button that will always be located at the top of any Flickr page. You will be taken to a screen that outlines all the steps you will need to take. It looks like this:

Click “Choose photos and videos” to open your photo folder and simply select the photo you would like to share. You can upload more than one photo at a time and you have the option of making your photos public to everyone on Flickr or private so that only the people you choose can see them.

If you have more photos to upload simply click “add more” and chose the next photos you would like to share. When you are done, make sure you select the privacy level you would like and click “upload photos and videos”.

Once your photos are done uploading Flickr will prompt you to add a description. Adding descriptions and tags to your photos helps other users find them so adding good descriptions and tags is key here.

Flickr will import the title of your picture as the image title on your computer. For example, these heart earrings were called Earrings-7.jpg on my computer and that was imported into the title box before I changed it to something that’s easier to find.

In this screen you will also have the option to add this photo to a set. Sets are a great way to organize your photos by categories.

To create a set and add your photo to it right away click the “create new set” link and the box will expand so that you can name your set and give is a description. Same as with the photo descriptions, if you want other Flickr users to find your sets you will have to really describe what kind of photos you will be including in this set.

Your sets will appear at the right side of your photostream and you can always move photos around to different sets, have one photo in multiple sets, or delete photos from a set by clicking the “edit” button that is right underneath the photo set.

That’s it! Once you’ve completed all the steps your photo will be live on Flickr so that you can easily share it with all your friends and family!

Joining a Flickr Group

Groups on Flickr are a great way to share your photos with people who have the same interests as you. There are many groups on Flickr already and it should be easy to find several on any given topic that you enjoy, however you can also create your own groups. Just like the photos, groups can be either public or private so you can easily create a private group for all your family members to contribute photos of children and grandchildren.

To find already existing groups to join, click on the “groups” tab on the top bar by the “upload” tab. This will take you to a page where you can search for groups. Enter the type of group you are looking for in the search bar and a long list will come up. You can explore these groups and read more about them before deciding to join.

When you decide on a group and click the “join” button you can now add photos to the photo pool, start and join discussions, find other users who have the same interests as you, and even invite friends!

And that’s how you get started with Flickr! Easy right? You can join or build a community around your favorite topics and show off all of your photography skills and craft projects! We’ve started our own Flickr groups for a few of the sites so be sure to check those out and join us in adding photos to the pool!

FaveQuilts Flickr
AllFreeCrochet Flickr
FaveCrafts Flickr
We can’t wait to see your photos!