Looking at some of the links on this site to supposed "stock photos that don't suck".. they are just awful in quality. Many are underexposed, poorly composed &

Looking at some of the links on this site to supposed "stock photos that don't suck".. they are just awful in quality. Many are underexposed, poorly composed & out of focus. Also some of those sites ask for an email address so they can spam me with few pics they select every week. I just want to find a pic today that I want not something sent to me what someone else wants. Just awful. Having been an istockphoto photographer/contributor since 2005, I can tell you that to be an istockphoto or getty photographer/contributor the bar is high. You need to pass a photography test and every photo uploaded is scrutinized by pros so it doesn't suck. So that it's exposure, framing, quality etc is top notch. Therefore guaranteeing quality at a price. If you want free photos, you have a better chance of finding ok photos on flickr. When you find one you like contact the photographer and ask if you can use their photo giving them credit on your site. Just be careful with faces in a photo. Sites like istockphoto force all photographers to sign a Model Release form which means no surprises for the people appearing in a photo.