If you can take professional quality photographs yourself then you already have a head-start. But, even then, you need to know how to work with those images to enhance them for use on the Internet…and change the file sizes so your web pages load quickly.

The websites below specialize in pictures for websites and other advertising material and this list might come in useful if you need to get some inspiration as well.

Stock Photography Websites – Paid

http://www.fotosearch.com/

http://us.fotolia.com/

http://creative.gettyimages.com/source/home/home.aspx

http://www.dreamstime.com/

http://www.istockphoto.com/index.php

http://www.stockxpert.com/?ref=bow

http://www.luckyoliver.com

Stock Photography Websites – Free

http://www.bigfoto.com/

http://www.picfindr.com/

http://www.inmagine.com/

http://www.everystockphoto.com/

http://yotophoto.com/

http://www.sxc.hu/

http://www.123rf.com/

http://www.imageafter.com/

Local Photographs From The Prom Country, Bass Coast and South Gippsland Regions Of Australia - you can find a great store of locally inspired pictures over at ‘lifegames’ Photography. Completlely FREE to use if you just keep the small watermark intact.

LATE EDIT: I’ve just come across this fantastic resource from Paige, with a huge list of places to find images online. Highly recommended!

Sourcing Local Photographs – It can be quite challenging to find appropriate photographs for websites, promotions and advertising unless of course you want to PAY for images through one of the major stock photography companies. But I have created an easy solution for people who live in South Gippsland, Prom Country or Bass Coast regions of Victoria Australia by providing beautiful Photo Galleries of pictures taken throughout the local area.

Not only that, I usually include a free photo shoot for people who are having websites constructed, which saves them hundreds of dollars as well as improving the quality and appeal of their website.

Solutions – So if you need some quality photographs to promote your region and your website, find a photographer who specializes in local landscapes and who is willing to give you access to their galleries. Offer to pay them a fee for the use of their pictures and get them to sign a permission form so you don’t get stuck in a legal battle further down the track.

South Gippsland, Bass Coast & Prom Country – Residents of these areas have it lucky. I give them permission to download and use the photographs from the lifegames Photography website in their current resolution FREE. They already have a watermark with my website address attached and if that stays intact then the pictures may be used anywhere without any further permissions needed.

Full Resolution And High Quality Images – Of course, if you want high quality images in large resolutions, I am happy to provide those at a small fee. Just make your enquiry over on the contact form. A complete album or the entire gallery can also be provided with full permissions via a CD…and you retain those images to use as you please.

Note: Full copyright always belongs to http://lifegames.com.au so you can never pass the images off as your own, but permission can be specially granted for their use in any form.

If you are unwilling to purchase stock photographs then you might want to take your own with a good digital camera. Below are some of the many websites that can assist you with the basic principles of enhancing, displaying and taking photographs for use on the Internet.

http://www.photography-basics.com/

http://www.morguefile.com/archive/classroom.php

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/techniques.htm

http://www.dg28.com/technique/index.htm

http://www.photoaxe.com/composition-in-photography/

http://www.vecteezy.com/gallery

http://www.freevectors.com/

http://www.bittbox.com/freebies/

http://www.vectorportal.com/

http://www.vectorvault.com/free_downloads.html

http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/

http://adsoftheworld.com/

http://www.iconbuffet.com/store/products