Given a link like http://farm1.static.flickr.com/22/39727523_af63f401a8.jpg, you can get to the photo on Flickr at
http://flickr.com/photo.gne?id=39727523 .
| http://farm1.static.flickr.com/22/39727523_af63f401a8.jpg | http://flickr.com/photo.gne?id=39727523 | |
| http://farm1.static.flickr.com/22/[id]_[salt].jpg | http://flickr.com/photo.gne?id=[id] |
I regularly find myself viewing a photo either hosted on Flickr or with that tell tale file name and no link to the photo. Unfortunately, sometimes without the photographer’s permission. A comment on the photo’s page in Flickr always seems appreciated.
It seems the salt, randomizing the file name, was added some time ago to discourage copyright infringements (image security). Specifically given a file name of a small version of an image, there is no way to guess as to the web address of the larger version.
Updated Aug. 24 changing photo_zoom.gne to photo.gne based on tip from Thomas Stache!
Updated Nov. 9th Came across Photo Source URLs which describes the construction of the file names in detail.
clever! i’ve been looking for a way to do this for a while, either to find the source of a photo, or to see something a little closer.
One other reason for the salt is privacy. Say I post a photo for “Friends” only. If I post the URL for that photo page publicly, without the salt someone could engineer the photo URLs for that photo. Photos aren’t protected by cookie/auth, so they’d get to see photos they weren’t supposed to see. So really, it’s acting as a cheap authentication method.
Its same (familiar) with YouTube and preview images. There is 1,2,3 image (2nd is used) but if you onetimes know that hash_id (from videolink), then you can explore a bit more.
Sometimes I feel it’s unsafe to put up photos on the net. There are high chances that some unworthy people may modify it to meet their demand.
It’s even easier:
use http://www.flickr.com/photo.gne?id=39727523
to go directly to the photo page. Saves one click
via http://www.flickr.com/help/forum/41252/#reply218608
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This doesn’t work of course for private images, otoh private images can be passed around by sharing the direct jpeg link. Also it only seems to work now with “photo_zoom.gne”
Why is that so of course Paul? If I have a private photo already, why not tell who’s it is. The author posted the pic on some blog, and now it is very hard to find his flickr name. I think even for private pics it is important to show the author. Not the pic page, but just the author name.
That’s an interesting insight. Unfortunately, it has the potential for abuse, as it is a privacy leak.