How to Make Videos for Flickr From Your Photos

Flickr Pro members can now upload videos along with photos. Flickr support most video formats (FLV ?) but the duration of each clip should be 90 seconds or less - you can upload longer videos as well (up to 150 MB) but the system will truncate anything that’s after the 90 second mark.

Flickr is perfect for sharing short family videos that you have captured with a digital still camera or your mobile phone. It’s a no-brainer that Windows Live Gallery and Flickr Uploader will get upgraded soon so you can push both videos and still photos from the camera to your online Flickr account in one shot.

The level of spam should be negligible since video hosting is only available to Pro members who have actually used their Credit Card to buy a Flickr account. Also expect to find lot of screencast videos on Flickr once screen recording apps like Jing and SnagIt upgrade their output options.

Another important point - though Flickr allows you to upload photos not meant for kids, your videos should be G-Rated - content that may be unsuitable for children or grandmother are not permitted on Flickr videos.

Yahoo! will probably introduce video editing in Flickr via Jumpcut (an online video editor) just like the way you edit still images in Flickr using the Picnik editor.

Am not sure when that integration will happen but if you already have a bunch of photos that you want to upload to Flickr as a video slideshow, here are some good options:

Create Video slideshows for Flickr Photos

1. Windows Movie Maker - Included by default in Windows XP and Vista. Drag a bunch of photos, add transitions, sounds and output your photos as a video file.

2. Microsoft Photostory - If you are on Windows XP, this is the best bet. This software can make your still photos look like a real video - you an also create your own music loops inside Photostory.

3. Pinnacle VideoSpin - I somehow find Video Spin a much better alternative to Movie Maker because it supports more 2D photo transitions and has a built-in title editor normally seen only in expensive video editing software.

4. Picasa - Yes, this free image editing software from Google can make movies of your favorite photos - select the pictures, adjust the time delay and render - you movie is now ready for uploading onto Flickr. Thanks Arpit.

5. SlideRoll - This is a online clone of Photostory that will convert your existing Flickr photos into a video so you can re-upload the pictures in a video format.