Like many of the little programs I write, I had a “problem” and wanted to solve it. I wanted a convenient link on the photo page to cut and paste the short URL of FLickr Images.  Look at this URL for a nice photo my wife took:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/s_d/3665619548/

As a URL goes, not too bad, but suppose you wanted to insert the link in
Twitter or Facebook? It’s a little verbose.  Wouldn’t this be better?

http://flic.kr/p/6zVfZ3

Yep, I think so too and so does Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/services/api/misc.urls.html#short
http://www.flickr.com/groups/api/discuss/72157616713786392/
This thread showed how to do it: http://www.flickr.com/groups/api/discuss/72157616713786392/

The FlickrBase58 function in the script was written entirely by ‘Xenocryst @ Antares Scorpii’
http://www.flickr.com/people/antares/

Other than reformating, taken verbatim from link here
http://www.flickr.com/groups/api/discuss/72157616713786392/72157620673064673/

The Original way *I* wrote it was to retrieve the HTML, Parse it for
<link rev=”canonical” type=”text/html” href=”http://flic.kr/p/6zVfZ3″ >

And use that link. While fun to write, that’s the wrong way to do it so I rewrote it to use the function written by ‘Xenocryst @ Antares Scorpii’ .  When installed on Firefox running the Greasemonkey extension, it will insert a link on the page on the right side just under “Flag your photo” that says:

The Flic.kr link is: http://flic.kr/p/6zVfZ3

This will allow you to right click the URL, copy it and paste into Twitter or Facebook.

Here is the script.

NOTE: I’m pretty certain it’s harmless, but use at your own risk. It’s hardly great programming and I’m sure someone else would have done it too, if not better.

Music I’m listening to right Now:
“Paralyzer ” by Finger Eleven from the “Them VS. You VS. Me” Album.

S.D. says:

Got it.

Change this:

ifrm.contentDocument.execCommand('inserthtml',false,'<a title="Smilies" style="background:white !important;" href="http://www.ts0.com/flickrcommenttools/"><img align="absmiddle" style="vertical-align:middle;" src="'+this.url+'" border="0"></a>');

to:

ifrm.contentDocument.execCommand('inserthtml',false,'<a title="Smilies" style="background:white !important;" href="http://www.ts0.com/flickrcommenttools/"><img align="absmiddle" style="vertical-align:middle;" src="'+this.src+'" border="0"></a>');

Music I’m listening to now:
Nothing at the moment

I’ve just ordered a set and can’t wait to get them. Moo’s print quality is quite good and I’ve never been disappointed with the results. I’m betting I’ll like the business as much as I like the mini cards.

Music I’m listening to now:
“Dream Catch Me“, by Newton Faulkner from the “Hand Built by Robots“ album. It’s a good song and great video. You can see the video here.

This is exactly why Digital SLR’s are becoming so popular. At work, several of my co-workers (5 so far and another seriously considering it) are spending the extra cash to get a Digital SLR instead of a point and shoot camera. The initial cost is high, but the camera lasts for years with proper maintenance (Sensor Cleaning).

You have a wide selection of Digital SLR’s too. I have a Nikon D80, but Nikon’s makes the Nikon D60 which is sold at Costco as a package that includes the 18-55mm VR and 55-200mm VR lens for $874 (at this writing). Its’ a good camera, shoots at 10.2 Mega pixels and is like all Nikon cameras, very ergonomic. For variety, Costco also offers a Canon Rebel XSi with a 18-55mm IS Lens for $879 as well. Me, I prefer Nikon as I like the feel and ergonomics of the controls but you really can’t go wrong with any Digital SLR. All of them have a rich feature set.

Over $800 is not cheap but when you take into account that a Digital SLR used to start at over $1,200, it’s coming into a range that people can begin to consider buying one. Often people ask me what camera they should get and I ask them what will they use it for and how often. That’s a key consideration when buying a camera. If you just want an occasional photo for a party or something light and small, use a Point and Shoot. If you want something to give you room to grow, get a DSLR. This will sound Odd but How the camera feels in your hand is also important. When taking photos, you don’t want to be distracted by a camera that feels Odd. That’s why you should always check out the camera in advance before buying.

My brother thought about buying one (he ended up buying one shortly afterwards) and I’ve advised him to do it. He has kids, enjoys taking photos and I think he’ll enjoy his new Nikon D60 too.

At lunch, I go for walks and take my camera with me. At this point, I have at least 3 co-workers who want me to take them and give them tips on taking photos. Should be fun, but I imagine we will look like a bunch of tourists. Next, I have to get them to get a Tripod for shots like this one.

Music I’m listening to right Now:
“Big Bang Baby” by Stone Temple Pilots from the “Tiny Music…Songs From The Vatican Gift Shop ” Album. Video can be found here.

Went out to Kanvas for the Flickr NYC Social meet. We try to meet every month to hang out and goof around. I’ve met many nice people on Flickr and hang out whenever I can.

I recently figured out how to get my SB-800 flash to work off the Nikon D80 camera as a remote flash. Naturally we had to take photos like this one.

Music I’m listening to right Now:
“These Hard Times” by Matchbox Twenty from the “Exile on Mainstream” Album. You can see the video here.

Seems to be a big issue to many people, but I’m not convinced that it is something to ditch flickr over. Other than expanding the potential user base, I’m not sure this is really a good idea for flickr as it is a Photography site, not a video site. At this time, the videos are limited to 90 seconds. While this may help stop copyright issues, I’m not looking forward to people adding videos to the groups I use.

I use flickr as a great site for Photography where I’ve met some great people and gotten lots of tips. Why would yahoo want to risk alienating an established user base?

Does flickr really want to become “YouTube”?? I hope not.

Nice image made by AlbySpace.

Update: Naturally, there is a flickr group or two. IMO, this is getting a little ridiculous, especially some of the threads being discussed.

Update: UGH. Someone made a domain called www.no-video-on-flickr.com
(sigh) This has officially become absurd.

Music I’m listening to right Now:
Nothing at the moment.

After it rains is often the best time to take photos. You get reflections off the streets, the air tends to be clear and the overall look just works.

In this case, I took close to 70 photos and was happy with about 8 of them. That’s the great thing about Digital SLR’s, unlike film, you don’t waste anything by taking photos.

Music I’m listening to right Now:
“Paralyzer ” by Finger Eleven from the “Them VS. You VS. Me” Album.

Lost Playmate Bunny?

Originally uploaded by S.D.
To Recap:

• 4 sets of AA batteries (3 sets of rechargeable NiMh) for the flash.
• 540+ Photos over 3 2gb SD cards.
• Incredibly tired afterwards.

Needless to say, it was a blast, despite being crushed against a Police barricade.

The photo on the right was from the people gathering at Spring Street and 6th Avenue. I met other people from Flickr early on, but we got separated as we each got good vantage points.

Next time, I have to get there earlier so I can get into the starting area.

Things I learned:

• Keep all memory cards in my jacket pockets. Getting memory cards out of my backpack was a chore to say the least.
• Use the 18-200mm lens at a High ISO. The Sigma was great at f2.8, but from the results with the Flash, I think I could have used the slower lens.
• Wear a costume and march in the parade. I got photos I’m happy with, but walking about would have been better.

Music I’m listening to right Now:
I Don’t Wanna Be In Love (Dance Floor Anthem) by Good Charlotte from the “Good Morning Revival” album.

Newmindspace organized another massive pillow fight in Union Square park. I can't begin to tell you how much fun this event was. I haven't laughed that hard for that long  in quite some time.  

I drove in and got to the Union Square early to get parking. I was able to scope out some good places to hang out and meet some people before the Pillow Fight actually started. As 2:00pm approached it got pretty crowded and when the whistle blew, the feathers started to fly. My original plan was to take shots from the edge of the crowd with my Nikon D80 and then wander in using my point and shoot camera. Since the point and shoot camera takes too long between shots, I threw caution to the wind and kept using the D80. Wading into the crowd was like walking thru a big mosh pit. Amazingly, I only got hit about a dozen times and that tended to be when someone was taking a wide back swing. Using continuous shooting on my camera, I managed to take over 700 shots. I'm sure lots of them don't show much,  but I'm using DXO Optics 4.1 to batch process the RAW NEF files. It's very good software, supports my camera and lens, and the Batch mode is what convinced me to buy it. For $149, you can't go wrong with it. I have an old PC so I started the batch late last night and it's still going. When it's done, I'll pick out the good ones and post them to Flickr.

For a crazy massive pillow fight, people were very careful not to hit the photographers cameras. Other than a couple of minor hits, the camera survived intact. I ran into Gene in the middle of the crowd, but missed the other NYC Social members that were there.

I posted my shots on Flickr. 

Newmindspace has updated the site with links to Video and Flickr Photos too. I particularly liked  Rocketboom which has a great video of the event, including footage from above. Wish all battles were Pillow Fights…

Music I'm listening to right Now:
"World" by Five for Fighting from the "Two Lights" Album.