This is a photography post.
Flickr had an in-line photo editor called Picnik. I used it frequently to make quick on the fly edits to photos I planned to use here or on my Gettysburg Monument Project website. I did mainly simple stuff with it (reserving Photoshop for heavier editing): clone out some sensor dust bunnies, straighten a photo, a quick crop. Simple basic edits. Picnick streamlined the process -- as opposed to digging for the right photo on my hard-drive, firing up Photoshop, editing it in Photoshop, saving it, then re-uploading it to Flickr, I could select the photo in Flickr, click "edit," edit it, and save it to Flickr. It saved several steps -- not insignificant when working with lots of photos.
So although I'd moved my galleries over to SmugMug, I've continued to use Flickr because it was so easy to find the right photo and then edit it on the fly.
Unfortunately, Google bought out Picnik and is shutting it down. That's not Flickr's fault. But what IS Flickr's fault is picking an absolutely awful replacement. Flickr, in it's infinite wisdom, has decided to go with a program called Aviary. Patronizingly, Flickr's official blog claims "Tens of thousands of members edit their photos on Flickr each day, so we know that photo editing is something that the Flickrverse cares about." Yet, Aviary is so simple, so basic that it can't even do very simple tasks like straightening a photo a few degrees or cloning out dust. Offering Aviary as an editing tool and pretending that it's sufficient is an insult to anyone who views photography as even a semi-serious hobby.
Aviary is awful. Period. It is something that *might* have been cool if AOL had introduced it circa 1995. And I'm more than a little miffed that I just re-upped my Flickr account on March 28 for another year. I'm also more than a little miffed that Yahoo! automatically renews Flickr accounts now (I set a reminder in my phone to make sure I don't "accidentally" get renewed for another year).
This is a good chance for SmugMug -- which also uses Picnick and also has to find a replacement online editor -- to potentially grab an even bigger chunk of Flickr's market share.
I'm a paying Flickr customer ... And I'm voting with my wallet. They got me for one more year, but barring them replacing Aviary ... I'm done. (And I'll be done even if they DO replace Aviary with something better if I get used to say using whatever editor SmugMug adopts...)
5 Comments
can't you tweak your photos in elements 10 and then directly upload them from the organizier to Flickr. I know the new version of Lightroom (LR4) has that capability, as well.
Hi Kim,
What I was using Flickr for was to find a specific photo (I have them all labeled thru Flickr) for my Gettysburg project. Having found the right photo, I would either download and use it directly, OR I would edit it if necessary using the online editor. For any serious editing, I was definitely using PS Elements. Picnik was a way to save time and steps. Make some sense?
Jenny
Hi Jenny,
I agree, Picnik was a great tool to streamline and save time on Flickr. I know your catalog of photos must be immense.
I just thought you had all your photos in Elements Organizer all tagged and rated so that you could find them with ease. By the way, I'm awful at that task....none of my photos in Lightroom are tagged and rated.
I took a look at Aviary, and it does look clunky as an editor, but it's still an upstart, so hopefully it will be improved.
How do you like SmugMug, so far? Your photos Rock, so I'll miss you over on Flickr...you're an awesome Flickr friend. I was about to Flickr mail you and see if you were familiar with, or had any helpful advice about Plantar Fasciitis.
I hope your hand is healing up well. So sorry about the jerk in the car and your plans for Big Sur.
Kim - please send me an email: jgoellnitz *@* gmail.com.
Hi Jenny
Thanks for the great article. I fully agree with you, and I am really saddened with the rubbish that has been dumped on us by Flickr.
Aviary, simply does not work.
There are super programs, such as PicMonkey or iPiccy which would have slotted in to place perfectly.
Here's to Flickr waking up and smelling the coffee, before they lose a whole bunch of us!