Where to Find Stock Photos for Web Design	Visited: 1071 5.0/5.0 (12 votes total) Rate: Select 1 - Terrible 2 - Poor 3 - Average 4 - Good 5 - Outstanding
by Sharon Housley May 10, 2007

Professional photographs in a website give the website a professional look. Many webmasters do not realize that photographs are copy written and in many cases illegal to use a photograph or image that you find on the web without properly licensing it.

Most webmasters do not have time to go out and photograph all of the subjects they wish to include in a website. Webmasters are best off using royalty free photographs. Royalty free photographs are generally purchased and there is no recurring fee for the use of the photograph. The purchaser may use the image(s) as often as required within the license terms and conditions without paying for the use of the image each time the image is used. Fortunately there are a number of stock photography websites where webmasters can purchase a single photograph for a fixed
fee, or they can purchase a stock photo subscription, that allows for the subscriber to download multiple photographs.

Photo Wizard
Photo Wizard is a subscription stock photo website. Webmasters or publishers subscribe to the site and can download as many images as they would like. There are no recurring fees or royalties for using the photographs on Photo Wizard. On Photo Wizard, subscribers can navigate through the photographs by navigating the directories categories. The Photo Wizard website also has a search function that allows subscribers to use keywords to locate photographs of specific places or things. Visitors can purchase a single photo or they can purchase a subscription allowing them to download an unlimited number of photographs for X amount of time. Subscribers can also subscribe to an RSS feed so they are notified when new photographs are posted and available for download.
http://www.photo-wizard.net

IStockPhotos
Photos and images on IStockPhotos are sold individually and vary from $1.00 to $15.00 depending on the size of the photo. iStockPhotos is a collaborative website and photographers can contribute their photos to the website as well. Photograph submissions result in the photographer receiving credits that can be used to purchase other photographs from the iStockPhotos website.
http://www.istockphotos.com

Photos.com
At photos.com webmasters can purchase professional royalty-free stock photography subscriptions. You pay one fee and can download up to 250 photographs per day, from the Photos.com collection of more than 300,000 images.
http://www.photos.com

FotoSearch
Fotosearch is a provider of royalty free, and rights managed stock photography. Rights-Managed images are images that must be licensed for a specific use. The fee for rights managed photographs are calculated from several factors including size, placement, duration, and geographic location. Rights-managed images are licensed for a specific use and cannot be used for any purpose other than what is specified when licensing the image. Fotosearch brings together many different stock agencies to allow you to quickly find stock photographs. The products on Fotosearch can then be licensed and easily downloaded for use in your advertisements, promotional materials, websites, etc. When you purchase a license to use an image, video clip, or audio clip, you do so based on the license agreement of the publisher of that particular content. The license agreement will be presented to you before purchase confirmation, the licensing agreements may vary depending on the content provider.
http://www.fotosearch.com/

Stock photo websites also often offer CD compilations with groups of photographs sold on a CD. Any photographs on the CD can be used on websites and brochures and usage does not incur any additional fees.

Licensing Agreements
If you purchase a photograph be sure that you completely read the licensing agreement. Some agreements may restrict resale of the photograph and you want to be aware of that if you are a webmaster reselling your services.