I’ve said before, I sometimes get a little intimidated by all the great photographers around me. How am I supposed to keep up with my little point-and-shoot digital camera?

But then something amazing happened. Today I got an email from a fellow Flickr user who was browsing photos and stumbled across the zebra shot I took last week. “Loved the photo,” he told me. “But too bad you don’t have your options set so that viewers can order prints.”

His 8-year-old daugther loves zebras, and red is her favorite color. He wanted to surprise her with a framed print of that crazy zebra and inquired if he could order one for her bedroom wall. Talk about making my day!

I hadn’t actually realized that on Flickr you need to set that function manually. Default settings allow only Friends and Family on your contacts list to order prints, I think. You can turn that option off completely or allow anyone to have access. This option is found under Your Account, then Printing. Another similar setting I had not realized you could change is the ability to download various sizes of people’s pictures. I’m not sure if I will keep both of these options available, as most of my photos are of my daughter, and I’m not sure if I’m ready to make them all private. Turning off prints and download options allows people to see your photographs, but that is the extent of their access.

But at the same time, being able to put a smile on a little zebra-loving girl’s face is very cool, too! “Soon an 8 year old girl in Minnesotta will have your picture on her bedroom wall,” his email said. “Thanks for sharing.”

I’d love to hear any of your thoughts on photo sharing and allowing printing/downloading access to your photographs.