Google Photos vs Flickr

Well I had to do it. I couldn't leave it alone because what I thought I saw in the photos in Flickr was much different than what I saw in the photos I had uploaded into Google Photos. It kept bugging me, even as I add photos daily as a backup to Google Photos. It's a simple process now that everything is loaded, with some of it being an automated process.

Do I add photos to this post from my photos library or do I just write, like when I started this blog in 2011? Feels strange having a blog post without 15 or more photos. Hopefully I'll have an answer by the time I finished writing this.

Anyway, back to the differences between Google and Flickr.

The differences bothered me enough to really check it out. The trigger point last night after all the football games I watched, put me past 1am by the time I sat at the computer. Since I am now use to staying up all weird hours of the night, I was awake enough to check out my information.

I knew before I started Google Photos there might be a slight difference in picture quality between the two from what I had read. For the unlimited free account, photos would be compressed to a 16 mega pixel limit in Google Photos. It was said unless you were a professional photographer, you would not see the difference.

I'm NOT a professional photographer but I could see a difference and can today ... I double checked this morning after a cup of fresh coffee and a clear set of eyes. Yet, picture quality was not the only difference that made me curious. I had read something wrong about Flickr before starting to play with Google Photos. I thought I was going to have to pay to be able to continue to use my free Flickr account I started in 2014.

That was not the case for a manual upload ... only for automatic uploading. So Google Photos wins that area with free automatic uploading.

No, the 'trigger point' for me was all of those 70 plus albums I had manually set up in Google Photos. One for each hound, past or present. One for each old VW bus I had owned, or tour I had taken, one for friends or different trips I've taken ... you get the picture, so to speak.

In Google Photos ... pictures uploaded or moved into Albums were not sorted nor can they be sorted in anyway. Users are still complaining in forums after 7 months of nothing being done, with all of the "google expert" posters saying we should use Picasa in the first step because it will load all the folders without issue and in some sort of order into Google Photos. Tonight I found a way to sort photos within the albums on Google Photos.

I will not be doing that. I mean how many times can you upload the same 22.4Gb photo library? That's around 30,000 photos.

So I was curious enough last night or very early this morning to take a look at my Flickr account that has about 2,300 photos total with 800 or so available for the public to see. I have less than 20 folders in that account, but TWO BIG MAJOR DIFFERENCES ....

In Flickr you can "bulk edit" photos and albums AND you can sort pictures within those albums 4 different ways. To me those were huge differences. Then throw in the file that shows your photos in a larger mode and much more CLEAR AND SHARP than what Google Photos had done to mine by just a tiny bit of file compression ... I had sold myself that Flickr was the way to go.

There was that much difference in the way my photos looked. It was just as fast, possibly easier to upload photos and bulk editing or bulk sorting hundreds of photos at at time was fantastic. Flickr also uploads the photo after you have edited it in your own editing program --- Google photos uploads the original with an editing program built in.

I noticed that last point of editing on my iPhone photos yesterday after they were uploaded automatically to Google Photos as soon as I took the picture. It was also a big trigger point because the quality was not even close to the great quality of those same photos on my iPhone.

So besides just looking at what I had uploaded last winter into Flickr ... I did a small batch of 15 photos from my computer to Flickr. Within the same amount of time it takes me to upload and move to Albums in Google Photos I was able to upload, sort, write a title and description for all the photos at once in Flickr ... with a sharper, better quality image.

To keep my head straight in the future and help those of you that are curious or interested in using a 'cloud' photo storage program ... I'll list the advantages of each FREE account.

Google Photos

• Unlimited storage with a 16 mega pixel limit per photo.
• Photos can be loaded automatically from a computer, tablet or smart phone.
• Photos can be deleted after upload from smart phone, tablet or computer by clicking one link and freeing up hard drive space.
• All of your photos can be seen anywhere, on any device as long as you have an internet connection.
• Photos can be moved into albums
• Will automatically sort your photos into their albums labeled places, things, friends, and videos.
• Can make collages and will suggest photos that can be used to make albums or books.
• Groups photos automatically and shows them in a past of "one year ago" format, similar to what Facebook does.

Flickr

• 1 Terabyte of free storage with original size and quality of photos.
• Photos are sharp and clear, shown in a larger format.
• Bulk edit of title and description for each photo before uploading.
• Sort photos 4 different ways within an album.
• Can choose which photos are private or for public viewing.
• All of your photos can be seen anywhere, on any device as long as you have an internet connection.

I am sure there are more features than these listed for each program. I listed only what I have personally worked with. I admit I am hesitant to continue to use Google Photos for ALL of my photos as a backup. Picture quality and being able to have photos in a specific order are huge to me.

Because it makes the process simple to delete photos off of my iPhone and a laptop to free up hard drive space with just clicking a link I will use Google Photos for photos taken by my iPhone, although my total library of photos would not take a 1/3 of my current smart phone hard drive.

I am going to go back to using Flickr as my main 'cloud backup', only I'll work a little at at time uploading all the photos I have into Flickr or like the friend that suggested Flickr to me ... I'll load only my favorite photos into Flickr while backup my my total library on external hard drives.

In the meantime, the hounds and I are going to get out and enjoy the rest of the morning with a walk through the heavy wet dew before we continue our football marathon today on the professional side (NFL). It will not be shown live because tv stations have to break for commercials during the playing of the national anthem ... but today in particular will be interesting for those players that want to protest by sitting or kneeling during the playing of the national anthem. Who could ever forget September 11, 2001.

I'll leave you with this observation if you have made it this far ....

• Bloodhounds DEMAND more attention than basset hounds
• Stella has to have ALL the attention
• Sadie and Stella move between me and the other to get that attention
• They don't bother me when I am giving Heidi attention
• The Bloodhound Laws listed on the right sidebar still apply

No photos in this post this morning ... The hounds will have their photos posted this evening.

Another beautiful day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.