You may have recently seen the announcement that we’ll be closing Yahoo! Photos and focusing all our efforts on Yahoo’s photo sharing community, Flickr.

If you use Yahoo! Photos, fear not. We’re still committed to doing what is best for you, and by getting laser-focused on a single photo sharing service (Flickr), we’ll be able to give you even more of the great stuff you’ve come to expect from Yahoo!. Many of creative folks behind Yahoo! Photos are heading over to the Flickr team, giving us even more ammo for future innovation.

We’ve watched photography gradually change from a tool for simply recording life events (seen enough baby/wedding/graduation/vacation photos, anyone?) to a social tool for sharing and connecting with others. That’s why we believe it’s time to shift our focus towards Flickr.

We’re doing our best to make this transition as smooth and convenient as possible, and beginning today you will be able to move your albums and photos to Flickr. The next time you log in to Yahoo! Photos, you’ll see your options for moving your entire collection with just one click.

And in case Flickr isn’t for you (no hard feelings), we’re also providing easy ways to move your photos to other services (including Shutterfly, Kodak Gallery, Snapfish or Photobucket), download them, or get them on an archive CD. Find more information on our Yahoo! Photos help pages. You don’t have to choose right away — you have until September 20th to make a decision.

Oh, and if you happen to use one of our international Yahoo! Photos sites, we’ll outline our plans for those services soon. Check your respective Yahoo! Photos site for details later this year.

In the meantime, we hope you’ll give Flickr a try for sharing your photos and exploring the millions of amazing photos uploaded everyday by Flickr members from all over the world.

Tim Anderson
Senior Product Manager, Yahoo! Photos & Flickr