Although Flickr does have a robust API its not easy for someone non-technical to download and backup all the images they have uploaded to the service. However there are a few solutions out there that aim to help you download and save your images locally.

One of the newer and better ones I’ve seen is Bulkr. This is an Adobe AIR tool (so you’ll need AIR installed). It has a simple interface and provides a very easy method for you to download and backup your entire photostream, individual photos or chosen sets (to local folders) via a few clicks of the mouse. You can select what size you want to download (although it would make most sense to grab the originals) and even embed the tags from Flickr into the image EXIF data.

If you’re guilty of not backing up your images, give Bulkr a go, and of course once you’ve got the images stored locally don’t forget to back those up too!

First up, how about a Photoshop alternative?

GIMP

GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Project) is a very well known open source image editor stuffed with an very extensive feature set. It’s a raster editor, which means that it performs operations directly on the pixels that make up the image (like Photoshop), and not a vector editor (think Illustrator). Unless you are working as a graphic design GIMP will meet jsut about all the image editing requirements you have. For more information and to download it visit:  http://www.gimp.org

Next up lets look at an alternative to Photomatix for producing high dynamic range (HDR) images.

QTPFSGUI

Despite the rather strange name, this program provides you with tools to tone map and create HDR images (although please, no weird halos around everything!). It supports a range of HDR format and allows source images to be imported from a variety of formats – JPEG, PNG, PPM, PBM, TIFF(8 bit). Once again, this application is open source and you can find more information and download it from the following site: http://qtpfsgui.sourceforge.net

Now how about organising your images and doing basic editting?

PICASA

Produced by Google, Picasa is surprisingly good at allowing you to organise and sort your photographs. In addition it allows you to eliminate scratches & blemishes, fix red-eye, crop and produce basic video slideshows. Combined with Picasa Web Albums it allows you to upload your latest and greatest shots to the web to share with friends and family. For more info, visit: http://picasa.google.com

Finally, rather than Picasa, were you looking for more of a workflow tool like Lightroom? Well you might just be in luck.

Whilst it’s early days, blueMarine is an open source attempt to replicate much of the functionality of Adobe’s Lightroom and Apple’s Aperture. At its most basic it is a photo browser, which can be explored in different ways (by folder, by calendar, by tags, by galleries). The aim of blueMarine is to fully support the photographic workflow, even before the photo shoot (for instance, trip planning supported by maps) and beyond print or archival. It support a variety of the more popular RAW formats although doesn’t yet provide the non-destructive editing features of some of its more costly competitors. Definitely something to keep an eye on! (http://bluemarine.tidalwave.it)

What’s your favourite freebie photo related application?

Raw image files are sometimes called digital negatives, as they fulfil the same role as negatives in film photography: that is, the negative is not directly usable as an image, but has all of the information needed to create an image. JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, the name of the committee that created the standard which was approved in 1994. In producing a JPEG file, which is a compressed format, some visual quality is lost in the process and cannot be restored.

There are arguments both for and against both formats:

RAW: Pros

• Higher image quality
• Finer control. Raw conversion software allows users to manipulate more parameters and do so with greater variability.
• Camera raw files have 12 or 14 bits of intensity information, not the gamma-compressed 8 bits stored in JPEG files
• Amends such as increasing the exposure of a dramatically under-exposed photo, result in less visible artifacts when done from raw data than when done from already rendered image files.

RAW: Cons

• Larger file size
• Slower to process and save resulting in less frames per second when shooting high speed
• Requires intermediate program to convert to final format
• Camera manufacturers format many not be supported in the future

JPEG: Pros

• Minimal post processing required
• Smaller size
• Single standard format

JPEG: Cons

• Lossy, compressed format
• Post-processing can result in images with visible flaws such as posterization.
• Contains embedded colour profile

Personally I always shoot in RAW. I’m not a great photographer, and I like the ability to post-process my images after a shoot without worrying about the quality being degraded. I do however always convert my RAW files to Adobes DNG RAW format. Their Digital Negative format is a response to demand for a unifying camera raw file format and they have submitted it for ISO standardisation. If successful this means there will be a great chance of this being supported in the future.

So what format do you shoot on, and why?

SlideShowPro for Lightroom

The tool allows you to create Flash slideshows from your photo collections using just the familar Lightroom interface. Its all self contained and you don’t need Flash installed on your machine to use it.

For more information check out the SlideShowPro website

• Flickr
• Smugmug
• Zenfolio

(Follow the links above to download them)