Where is the Flickr manual?

Less about groups and communities, more about the UI/tech end: Flickr Hacks: the http://www.flickr.com/groups/flickrhacks/, the http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596102456/, the http://userscripts.org/tags/flickr, etc.

There's been a few http://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?hl=en&lr=&q=flickr+communities&btnG=Search

I don't know of any resources like you're asking for (although if anyone wanted to start a Flickr-review site I bet it'd be popular). Give this a read http://digital-photography-school.com/how-flickr-can-make-you-a-better-photographer from DPS. Don't try to take all of Flickr in in one hit - there's a lot of fluff to sort through, so use the group search to narrow down your interests or you'll end up too thinly spread across the site. Try to find one group about learning photography, one for post-processing, one for the subject matter you're into (nature, urban, portraits, etc) and maybe one for doing challenges each week/month/whatever. Be an active participant who gives back to the community as well as taking from it. When it comes to choosing which Canon 50mm group to choose, for example, that's something no-one else can decide for you - take a look at the photos and discussions to see if they're covering what you need and have the right attitude to people who are trying to learn. In general, stick to groups with active discussions as well as frequent photos. Groups that have just pics are often a dumping ground for people who just want maximum views and don't want to participate in conversations. Often the best groups are organised around a non-Flickr source. This Week in Photography podcast, the Digital Photography School website, various photoblogs, etc often have a group on Flickr where readers and listeners can share their pics and talk about what's been covered off-Flickr.

Oh just spotted the bit about seeing stuff you like in Explore - this can be a good way of finding the groups and people you're interested in. When you spot a pic you like, go to the person's profile and check out two things: their groups, and the photos they've favourited. Not all of what they like will be useful to you, but it's a bit more targeted than just using the search function randomly. Also, some users let you click on a "More info about this photo" link (on the bottom right section of the page, iirc), which shows you what aperture, speed, etc they were using when the photo was taken. Can be handy for seeing how a particular effect was done.

http://ask.metafilter.com/117363/Where-is-the-Flickr-manual#1682188: "I think one of the best things about it is just making different contacts and commenting on photos you like. Sometimes they'll do the same for you. If you have a question about how they took the photo, go ahead and ask." I guess the hard part is often knowing what to ask. I wish people could upload Photoshop files with some sort of edit log, but I realise that's not practical... More realistically, I wish I knew of more photographers who put up tutorials about their editing styles like http://www.stuckincustoms.com/hdr-tutorial/. (Or I wish I could easily find such tutorials based on images I like.) http://ask.metafilter.com/117363/Where-is-the-Flickr-manual#1682188: "Not sure about digg-equivalent, but the StumbleUpon channel can be interesting sometimes." I periodically check delicious for Flickr-related things, but I haven't gotten too much mileage out of it. Maybe StumbleUpon has better Flickr coverage.

http://ask.metafilter.com/117363/Where-is-the-Flickr-manual#1682236: "Often the best groups are organised around a non-Flickr source. This Week in Photography podcast, the Digital Photography School website, various photoblogs, etc often have a group on Flickr where readers and listeners can share their pics and talk about what's been covered off-Flickr." Your answer in general is really helpful (even though I only quoted the last bit!). I liked the ideas about etiquette, groups and the link to the DPS article about becoming a better photographer on Flickr (if you know any more like that, incidentally, I'd be curious). I particularly liked the last bit though. I hadn't really thought about the (somewhat odd) phenomenon that the best groups are often organised around external sources. I'd seen, e.g., http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/, but hadn't thought about how it's an example of a broader phenomenon of group strength coming from other external communities. (Maybe I should ask about good external sites in a future AskMeFi if the real answer is that I should look for external sites for techniques and discussion that also have a Flickr group.)

Oh, well, I'm not afraid to wander a little off-topic... :) http://www.flickr.com/groups/twip/, http://www.flickr.com/groups/digitalps/ and http://www.flickr.com/groups/neilcreek/ are ones I've enjoyed, and all have links to their original websites. It's not that odd, because Flickr is essentially a photo hosting service rather than an educational tool. So if anyone already had a good website about photography, they would have found that people were increasingly using Flickr to store their pics, and it would make sense to have a group they could all share as well. Another tactic you might try is to look for a group local to you - if there's an active group, they might do meetups and photoshoots or workshops together that you can participate in.

http://ask.metafilter.com/117363/Where-is-the-Flickr-manual#1682345: "Oh, well, I'm not afraid to wander a little off-topic... :) http://www.flickr.com/groups/twip/, http://www.flickr.com/groups/digitalps/ and http://www.flickr.com/groups/neilcreek/ are ones I've enjoyed, and all have links to their original websites." Those look great, and you caused me to discover the "How I Took It" forum on DPS which at least helps a little in terms of learning to create specific effects that I've seen around. Thanks!