For a couple years I’ve had a photography site at photography.brentdanley.com that few people visited. I built it as a project to learn the Flickr API and the JavaScript framework Prototype. I’ve been wanting to incorporate it into my main site for a while, and now it’s done.

Click on the Photography link to check it out.

The new Photography page at BrentDanley.com

css · flickr · jquery · photography · php · phpFlickr · webdev · wordpress

This is one of the most popular photos in my Flickr photostream, so I thought I’d share it with you, too. It made it all the way to the #1 spot in Flickr’s Explore (March 22, 2008), an index of interestingness.

Please leave a comment.

My SB600 speedlight was next to the puzzle at lower left.

The photo from which the puzzle was made

brentdanley · explore · flickr · photo · puzzle

If you’re like me you have a lot of photos stored on your Flickr account.  Some of my pictures, for various reasons, ONLY exist on Flickr.  This isn’t good.  Plus, I want to clean up my photostream and get rid of some old junk.  It was time to do a backup.  Unfortunately, Flickr does not yet have a way for users to do a batch download of all their photos (or even subsets).

After a simple Google search I discovered a utility to do just what I wanted.  It’s called Flickr Downloadr.  It uses the Flickr API to retrieve all or some of your pictures or anybody else’s.

Check it out for yourself.  My backup is almost complete.

api · backup · download · flickr

I recently had my fifty-sixth photo reach Explore on Flickr. One of my contacts, Travis Church, commented that most of my photos that have made it into Explore were taken since moving to Maine. He’s right. Let me break down the numbers then I’ll offer a bit of analysis.

Each photo uploaded to Flickr has an interestingness score relative to every other photo uploaded that day.  Explore is the top 500 photos for a given day.

I uploaded my first photos to Flickr February 25, 2006.  I purchased my first D-SLR (Nikon D70s) on June 8, 2006.  I had my first photo reach Explore, which skyrocketed all the way to number 1, on June 10, 2006 (I’ll admit, it was a total fluke).  We moved from Kansas to Maine on June 13, 2007.

The obvious explanation is that Maine is simply much more photogenic than Kansas.  That fact is, in large part, why we decided to move to Maine.  I would rather gaze at the seacoast than a wheat field, obviously, and so would most people I know.  It should also be pointed out that of the nine photos which made it to Explore during the Kansas era, four were taken indoors and one is from New York City.  To be fair, not all the photos which made Explore during the Maine era were taken in Maine or have anything to do with Maine.  However, none of them were taken in Kansas, either.  Of the 47 photos which made Explore during the Maine era, 26 are of lighthouses (10 just of PHL).

Kansas isn’t all bad.  I’ve blogged about the good parts before.  I maintain friendships with a handful of people in Kansas.  And I miss them.  But I don’t miss Kansas.  It was and is a great place for an aspiring photographer becauses it forces one to look high and low, to develop a photographic “eye”.  I drove many hundreds of miles in Kansas searching for a postcard shot.  I think I got a few…just a few.

Besides the obvious fact that Maine is just better looking than Kansas, it must be stated that over time my photography talent has certainly matured as well as my skills in the digital darkroom.  This might partially explain the enormous interestingness gap.  I also have many more contacts and, therefore, eyeballs, looking at each photo I upload now.  That, too, makes a difference.  I’ve developed a bit of a following that I didn’t have in Kansas, but of course that is the result of having better pictures of more interesting locales.  Is it the chicken or the egg?

I appreciate the comments, favorites and being added as a contact that every Explore photo invariably attracts.  I don’t, however, think my Explore pics represents my best work, necessarily.  My favorite pictures are in my “My Favorites” set.

explore · flickr · interestingness · kansas · maine

Several people have asked me how to add pictures to comments in Flickr. This post will attempt to answer that question and provide a resource for making it even simpler than writing the requisite HTML.

First, the picture you intend to insert must be somewhere on the World Wide Web. It is easiest if the picture is already in Flickr. Otherwise, you can simply type the following HTML code in your comment where you want the picture.

<img src=”http://your.pictures.url.jpg” />

This is the simplest code. The only required attribute of the image tag is src, which is the location of the image. If you would like to make the picture a hyperlink simply wrap it in an anchor tag.

<a href=”http://the.location.the.picture.should.point”>
<img src=”http://your.pictures.url.jpg” />
</a>

The only required attribute of the anchor tag is href, which is the location the browser will take the user when the image is clicked.

This is all fairly simple once you get the hang of it. There is, however, a much easier way: use an image already in Flickr.

If you don’t use Firefox or Greasemonkey, start. If you’re not sure why then read my earlier post, Firefox’s Extensibility, extolling the benefits of each. Next, install Flickr Photo Page Enhancer 2, a Greasemonkey user-script. This handy little script adds several links to Flickr’s right sidebar. When one of the “Quicklink” sizes is clicked a small dialogue opens with all the HTML pre-composed. All you have to do now is copy and paste into your comment. I usually copy only the text enclosed in, and including, the anchor tag.

You can also click the “All Sizes” button above your photos. This will give you the HTML and photo’s URL for the size you choose. The Greasemonkey script mentioned above is much simpler in that it requires less clicks. It also works for every picture, not just your own.

If you have any questions please leave a comment.

firefox · flickr · greasemonkey · html · userscript

If you’re still using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser, shame on you! While Microsoft was busy reveling it its browser war victory over Netscape the open source community was quietly building alternatives to IE. Mozilla’s Firefox leads this group and has caused Microsoft to pay attention and begin to innovate and add features to IE. Competition is finally back!

One of the greatest of Firefox’s features, and probably least used, is its extensibility. Firefox users can install “add-ons” to customize the browser to their needs and make web surfing more powerful and personal. I only use a couple but there are hundreds of these add-ons available and installing them is so simple even a caveman could do it.

The must-have add-on for Firefox is Greasemonkey. Greasemonkey allows users to install scripts that customize individual webpages. It is possible to move page elements around, insert additional information, and remove unwanted elements such as advertisements. My Google.com and my Flickr.com can look completely different than your Google.com and your Flickr.com. The coolness of this can not be overstated.

Installation of add-ons and user scripts is a breeze. You simply click on the link, wait for the install dialog to pop-up, and click the “Install” button. Viola! User scripts are available immediately while extensions require a browser restart.

My favorite add-ons:
Greasemonkey
Customizegoogle – This little gem allows the user to add links to perform searches in other search engines, remove the spam counter in Gmail, remove ads in Google Maps, and many other wonderful customizations.

My favorite Greasemonkey user scripts for Flickr!:
Buddy Icon Reply – This adds links which, when clicked, automatically add code for a user’s name or Flickr icon into the comment block.
Move Additional Info – Moves the additional info to the top of the right panel so the user doesn’t have to scroll to get the photo’s technical specs.
More EXIF Info – Exchangeable Image File Format (EXIF) information is useful to those of us who like to know how a camera was set-up when the picture was taken. This user script allows the user to select which information should be displayed on the picture page without having to click More properties.
Rich Text Editor – Easily add links, bold, italics, etc. to comments.
Flickr PM – Adds useful links next to each user’s name.
Photo Page Enhancer 2 – Adds links to a photo’s other sizes (even if you don’t have permission) and gives you the code to paste a picture in a comment.
Referer Comments – This automatically adds code to your comment to let everyone know how you found the picture.
Groups Organizer – This should be standard in Flickr! It allows the user to sort their groups alphabetically. The Flickr staff obviously reads The Rhetoric and liked my suggestion. This user script is now redundant.

Find many more wonderful Flickr extensions and user scripts at the Flickr Hacks group.

add-on · browser · extension · firefox · flickr · greasemonkey · open source · software