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Over the last few years, several stock photo agencies have sprung up that feature photography submitted by both hobbyists and professionals. The pros do it to make a living, while others just like seeing their pictures online and knowing that those shots might be used in a design project somewhere. Although there are dozens of stock sites, some of the industry leaders include:
Although you often have to become a member to begin using these sites, it’s usually free to do so. Then you buy as many credits necessary to buy the photos you need. Most of these shots start at $1.00 for the low-resolution web versions, and then go up depending on how large you need them to be. You can even find scalable vector images on these sites. Many also include stock video (www.iStockphoto.com) and other pieces.
Generally these sites allow you to copy or download a “comping” image, meaning you can put a watermarked sample of the image in your project to see what it would look like or present it as a sample to a client. If you like it, you go back online and buy the real thing.
The images and pieces on these sites are usually classified as “Royalty-Free,” (different than “Rights-Managed”) meaning you only pay once for its use. For example, let’s say an advertising agency buys a stock photo for a direct mail piece, and then sends out the direct mail piece. Once they’ve paid that initial fee, they’re free and clear and don’t owe any royalties to the artist, photographer, or company.
There are some limitations. For instance, the agencies sometimes limit the use of their images on pieces and projects that are going to be resold and the image redistributed. The best thing to do is read the stipulations on the website and Terms of Service before you buy the image or piece of stock.
Related articles:
List of stock photo/illustration providers
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Stock Item Sites 
