Flickr is home to EVERY kind of photography, and that covers a vast range of subjects, styles, and categories. Today we’re excited to introduce a new kind of content category for the bulk uploading, group adminning, and search filtering needs of one of Flickr’s most active communities: Meet virtual photography!

What is virtual photography?
Virtual photography is an emerging art form specializing in photos taken inside a video game or virtual environment.

What are content types?
When you upload content to Flickr, you need to choose where it “fits,” a category that accurately describes what you’re sharing. Until now, Flickr offered three options for content categorization: photos, illustration/art, and screenshots. Today, we’re introducing a fourth category, virtual photography, because “screenshots” didn’t quite meet the needs of this creative and growing community.

Why is categorization important?
By putting your work into one of these categories, you can use filters to limit your search results by interest. For instance, virtual photographers will be able to filter by “virtual photography” while conducting site-wide searches if they only want to see that kind of work, while avoiding real-world photography or other art and illustration.

What kind of content would fit under virtual photography?
Flickr members are free to decide which term most accurately describes their work and how to categorize their content. However, we’re introducing this new category with two types of photography in mind: video game photography and content shared by the Second Life community.

I’m a virtual photographer. How can I set the default content type for all my Flickr uploads?
To assign the virtual photography content type to your images as you upload them, go to your Settings and select “Virtual Photography / Machinima” as the default. If you upload different types of content and don’t want “Virtual Photography” to be the default category for all your works, you have the option to set the content type for individual images on the photo page, or using Organizer. This FAQ has further information.

I’m the Admin of a virtual photography group. Would I be able to set “Virtual Photography” as one of the accepted content types for my group?
Yes, starting today, group Admins will be able to designate “Virtual Photography” as one of the “accepted content types” (or the only one!) for their groups, simplifying management responsibilities. Just navigate to your group’s Administration panel to update the “accepted content types,” and be sure to let your members know about this exciting new content category.

We’ve also included virtual photography in this year’s World Photography Day contest, so get out there and give us your best (virtual) shot.