I have used only two photo sharing sites thus far, Flickr and then Zooomr. I will start off this article by explaining how I got into digital photography and photo sharing in general. Then go into what I think is the best and worst from both sites.
Flickr has an incredibly rich feature set for storing, organizing, sharing, printing, and (even now) editing your digital photos! I started out using Flickr and it was my first digital photo sharing experience ever. I started to have a whole lot of fun with it and got hooked.
I was drawn to Flickr via my interest in Microsoft Home Media Center Edition where I came upon the wonderful blog/photography of Mr. Thomas Hawk. On Thomas’ blog he discussed (and still discusses) many things that I was already interested in at the time such as technology, tivo, Microsoft Media Center, but there was one thing that his blog had that I have never really thought twice about admiring or getting into; mind-blowing digital photos! Not just photos of friends at parties or families on special occasions but photos that actually meant something artistically and technically! But I digress… =)
From Thomas’ blog I would find all of his photos would link to his Flickr Photoset. So being curious, I signed up and began posting my photos to the site and slowly adding contacts while trying out Flickr’s features.
There was one thing that I was looking for and never got from Flickr, photo views and exposure of my digital photos for critique. I may have been doing something wrong here, but my expectations on the volume of comments on my photos was just not there.
In comes Zooomr… After a while of following Thomas Hawk and his work, I found out he was now Chief Evangelist and later named CEO of Zooomr. I naturally followed and started to post my photos there as well as Flickr.
Zooomr has one feature that I love that Flickr did not have at the time, and that was Zipline. Zipline is the first thing that greets you when signing on to Zooomr and it is a way for users to communicate with others on their contact list as well as see photos which were being uploaded in real-time by those contacts. I thought this was great, and I began to build up a strong base of people I followed on Zooomr and also got way more exposure and feedback on my photos than I ever did on Flickr. All this was in just 2 weeks of joining Zooomr.
Zipline is great, and I like the idea and community it adds to photo sharing. Zooomr is still in it’s beginnings and it does not have all of the photo sharing site features of Flickr, nor do I think the creators of Zooomr intend it to be this way. While using Zooomr I was constantly thinking this is the way it should be and it can’t get any better than Zipline. That is, Until I was introduced to Photophlow. (Thanks `Pacdog!)
Think of Photophlow as a big room filled with virtual comfortable coffee parlors with shoe boxes and shoe boxes full of all of the photos on Flickr. Everybody can sit down in a comfy sofa or chair and pull out photos from the shoeboxes and chat and comments on them. The detail of searching through the shoeboxes is also taken cared of in Photophlow by implementing a Flickr photo database search that gives you the same search power you would have in Flickr to find photos.
Once a photo is posted in the chat room users can comment on the photo in Flickr through Photophlow! No need to switch back and forth!
There are other several features of Flickr that can also be performed from within Photophlow. The explanation of the site and all the features is best left to the wonderfully done demo video on the home page. You can reach the site here.
Here is the best part folks! It’s still in Beta and testing which means the current feature set is where the potential for this site all begins! The price to pay at the moment is that it is invitation only at the moment but you are more than welcome to go to the website and ask for an invitation request. Invitations for the site are handed out (I am assuming) as the testing of the site progresses and more room is available for more users.
What I love most about Photophlow is that it allows maximum visibility of my photos to those who I am currently interacting with and I get instant feedback. Another nice thing I did not expect is that I got a significant bump in comments and views since starting to use Photophlow two days ago! Bonus!
I am still a Photophlow “newb” but I am hooked and I can see this site being a big time drain for me! But that is OK, because I know I will enjoy every minute I am on the site, growing my photography skills as well as making great contacts and friends!
Do me a favor, you owe it to yourself to check this site out! Here is a link to the Photophlow Flickr Group.
A Flickr account is required for the use of Photophlow.
Update: Thomas Hawk has a great first impression review here.
Photophlow = awesome!
Photophlow + “getting to learn from great photographers like Thomas Hawk” = priceless!