14 DAY TRIAL // Flickr has unveiled a new feature that should have been a long time going. Called Flicker Galleries, the feature allows users to create a group of up to 18 public photos or videos from any other one on the site. This is a great way of showing off the works one particularly likes, grouped around a common theme, and something Flickr has been missing so far, as it only allowed users to create groups of their own photos.
“There’s a long list of features that we’ve wanted to develop for our members. Giving our members a way to celebrate the creativity of their fellow members has always been high on that list. Today, we’re thrilled to launch our newest feature: galleries,” Heather Champ wrote on the Flickr blog. “For whatever you find interesting, fascinating, or mind-blowing on Flickr, galleries are a way to curate up to 18 public photos or videos of your fellow members into one place around a theme, an idea or just because.”
The idea and the execution is simple. Users can create a new gallery employing photos from different sources and the new gallery page features a thumbnail view of all the photos up to the top and then the larger versions listed below with an optional comment. Users can also disable the ability for others to add their photos.
Some may be wondering why only 18 photos, and Flickr has provided a very good explanation. The limit is in place to emphasize the nature of the feature. Galleries aren't meant as a group-album feature, but rather, as the name implies, as a set of photos that stand out and are bound by a similar theme. By limiting the number of photos, users will be forced to find the best ones and employ only those, as, otherwise, they may be tempted to add too many. While some might have preferred a feature geared towards common albums, the direction Flickr is taking is in line with the whole vision of the site, which is less a family-photos repository, a la Google Picasa, and more a avenue to discover great, new photos and for amateur photographers to expose their work.
