Flickr Fun: Web Sites For Using Photographs

There are many ways to use photographs for the classroom, both for student projects as well as for decoration. These sites allow you to select a picture from your flickr collection or other web page and do some fun things with it. And they’re all free.

However, because of advertising on the pages, it’s not a good idea to send students to these sites without supervision.

Flickr Toys – There are plenty of things you can do with your flickr photos at this site. Use a photograph in a custom made magazine cover, movie poster, photo badges, calendars, and much more, then print them on your own printer or order professionally done prints online. If you don’t have a flickr account, most toys also allow you to upload a picture from your desktop.

Bubblr – Here you can create comic strips using photographs drawn from flickr. Search based on a username and tag, then drag the pictures into the strip. Add dialog or thought balloons and you’re ready to publish. Strips can be embedded in your web site or the URL can be emailed to anyone.

Flickr Font – This is pretty simple but very fun. Enter a word or phrase and the site will spell out your words using letters pulled from photographs on flickr. The result can be embedded in a web page for display.

Spell With Flickr – This site is similar to Flickr Font, although with an even uglier interface. Once you have your word or phrase spelled out, you can embed it in your web page. The site itself has no save option. In addition to a few ads, most of the page is taken up with other material by the creator and has nothing to do with the application.

Fastr – This site offers an interesting game in which the page presents a series of pictures drawn from flickr and the user must guess the tag that they have in common. You must enter a name to play but it doesn’t have to be a real name. Registration with an email address is required to save scores. The site is available in several non-English languages.

Pictogame – At this site you can create several puzzle games using photographs from flickr or uploaded from your hard drive. The result is stored on the site and can be embedded in your own web page. While there are some interesting features here, it’s not the place to send kids.

If this list isn’t enough for you, visit The Great Flickr Tools Collection or flickr Bits and Pieces for a much longer list of sites that add value to flickr photographs.

Tags: flickr, images, Photography, Resources