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Practical Pointers for Getting Your Photos Noticed on Flickr and 500px

You have just composed your photographic masterpiece. After hours of planning, precise composition, and utilizing your technical knowledge, you have captured the perfect image. It's now time to share it with the world, but hours after posting your pièce de résistance, you've only received a meager two views.

In this article, we'll be discussing some basic tips for helping you make your work shine and become more noticeable on photo sharing sites.

Some Thoughts After Using Flickr Version 4.0

Having had a few weeks now to spend significant time exploring Flickr 4.0, I thought I’d write up a detailed post about my ongoing thoughts on the recent update by Flickr.

Filtered Photos Are 21% More Likely to Be Viewed

Popularized by the likes of Instagram, photo filters are divisive in the world of photography: some people love using and viewing them, while others hate what they've done to the medium. No matter which side of the aisle you find yourself on, one thing is clear: filters can have a big impact these days on how popular your shared images are.

And that effect has now been quantified: it turns out filtered photos are 21% more likely to be viewed online than their original, unprocessed shots.

Shutterdial Lets You Search Through Flickr Photos by Camera Settings

Flickr rolled out a new search engine last week, but one thing it still lacks is a way to search by EXIF data. A new website has launched to fill that hole. Called shutterdial, it's a Flickr search engine that lets you find photos by camera settings such as focal length, aperture, and shutter speed.

Flickr Loses Its Head: Bernardo Hernandez is Out

Flickr is basking in a fresh wave of press after launching a revamp of its website and mobile apps, but the leader that oversaw Flickr 4.0 won't be around to see whether it pans out. Bernardo Hernandez, chief of the photo sharing service since 2013, has left his position at Yahoo.

Flickr Now Lets You Add Public Domain Photos and Release Shots to the Public Domain

Last week SpaceX posted its photos to Flickr and released them to the public domain. Unfortunately for the company, Flickr didn't have any public domain designation they could use, so even though SpaceX founder Elon Musk said the photos were public domain, the images were shared under a Creative Commons license that required attribution.

That has now changed. Flickr announced yesterday that it has created two new options for members in the copyright dropdown panel: public domain and CC0, which allows users to release content to the public domain.

The 25 Most Popular Smartphone Photos on Flickr in 2014

The most popular cameras on Flickr these days are smartphone cameras. In fact, the top 5 cameras are all different phone models: the iPhone 5S, iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S4, Samsung Galaxy S5, and iPhone 6.

Last month we shared the 25 most popular photos on Flickr through 2014. That list included images captured any all types of cameras. Here's a second look at what the top 25 photos were when only smartphone images are considered.

The 25 Most Popular Photos on Flickr in 2014

Want to see the photographs that made the biggest splash on Flickr over the course of 2014? Flickr's website doesn't have a leaderboard -- the best you can do is explore popular photos -- but luckily for us, the company has just announced the top 25.

The Most Popular Cameras on Flickr in 2014

What are the most popular cameras used in the Flickr community? Now that 2014 is in the past, the photo sharing service has done some serious crunching on EXIF data to figure out which cameras were the most popular among its users over the course of the year. Here's a look into the findings.

Flickr Taking Heat from CC Photographers for Selling Their Work as Wall Art Without Compensation

Flickr -- a site that sometimes seems like the punching bag of the photo community -- is again taking heat from photographers, this time over their recent announcement that people can select from millions of Creative Commons-licensed photographs to buy as wall art.

The photos are being sold for profit, but none of that profit will go to the photographers who took the shots, and some of these photographers are speaking up about what they see as an injustice.

Flickr Opens Up 50 Million Creative Commons and Licensed Images for Flickr Wall Art

A little over a month ago, Yahoo! revealed Flickr Wall Art, a service that lets you turn your images into beautiful prints to hang... well... wherever you want them. Today, they're kicking that service up a notch by removing that pesky need for these photos to be yours.

No, you can't steal other people's photos and use them, but Flickr is opening up its entire Creative Commons library and some hand-selected collections from its licensed artists for your wall-hanging pleasure.

Flickr Pro Users Upset that Other Users are Now Seeing Ads in Pro Photostreams

Update: We've received an official response from Flickr, which you can read at the bottom.

In the past, paying Flickr for an Ad-Free experience had a dual meaning: you wouldn't see ads, and neither would the users who looked at your photographs. That definition, it seems, has changed, as some disgruntled Pro users are reporting that every 4th or 5th photo on their streams is now a full-size ad when viewed from a free user's account.

How I Built a Lightbox for $0

I'm 39 weeks into a 52 week project. Every week I go to this Art Prompt Generator for a random prompt and then spend a week taking a photo to match the prompt. This week was "Candy". I wasn't getting great results taking pictures of candy on plates, counters or other mundane surfaces so I thought I'd try a lightbox.

Flickr Takes on 500px and Getty with New Commercial Licensing Platform

Flickr announced this morning the addition of a new licensing program to their lineup. Describing the program as a way for photographers to “partner with photo agencies, editors, bloggers and other creative minds who are seeking original content,” Flickr seems to be taking strike at 500px and others to get their hand in on the licensing game.

MIT Algorithm Tries to Predict How Many Likes Your Photo Will Get Per Day

A photographer's primary concern when taking a photo might not be "I wonder how many likes this will get," but being able to gauge popularity could still come in handy when you're trying to decide which photos to upload to your favorite sharing site.

Enter MIT PhD candidate Aditya Khosla and his new algorithm that does just that: tells you how popular your photos will be before you even upload them.