The following article is an attempt to create the ultimate collection of free and creative commons based stock photo websites with the best places to search for Hi Res Photos and get nice quality images.
All Websites in this collection contain free digital stock photographs. For some you have to be registered to access and download high resolution imagery others have instant download options. I hope this will help you find open-source and creative commons images and photography to help you create stunning designs without spending as much as a dollar.

Gabriela Herman is a fine art, portrait and lifestyle photographer who is recognized for her intimate approach and ease with her subjects. She has exhibited nationally and internationally and been featured extensively online. She was born in Newton, MA and settled in Brooklyn, NY after enriching her photographic palette through her many experiences living abroad. She learned to eat crepes in the cafes of France, get lost in the zocalos of Mexico, and dance samba [...]

Paul Nicklen was born in Saskatchewan Province but grew up in an Inuit community on Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic. He studied species such as lynx, grizzly bears, bison, caribou and polar bears as a biologist before becoming a wildlife and nature photojournalist in 1995. Paul Nicklen’s goal is to bridge the gap between scientific research and the public by producing stories for magazines such as National Geographic. Paulnicklen.com

UK based Photographic artist Gordon Mcbryde offers a range of creative services. From professional retouching to the creation of bespoke photography and post-processing tutorials. His portfolio excels in excellent composition, captured light, colours and subject. Great images! Gmcbryde.com

Bookmark the pictures you like around the web. VisualizeUs is a social bookmarking website for visual contents — VisualizeUs (read visualize us) allows you to remember your favorite images from all over the web, and share them with everyone. Vi.sualize.us

The Frans Lanting Stock collection is designed to make it easy to search thousands of images of nature, wildlife, people, places, science, and conservation. We serve the needs of professional art buyers who want to license images for commercial, editorial, or institutional use. Anyone interested in ordering fine prints can also use the collection. Franslanting.com/stock

The London based Commercial photographer Dirk Rees got his experience in the production industry, working with film, advertising, and documentary projects. Check out his personal portfolio for some fabulous glossy-fashion photos. Dirkrees.com

Jim Brandenburg (born 1945) is an environmentalist and nature photographer and filmmaker based near Ely, Minnesota. His career includes over 10 years as a newspaper photojournalist, over 30 years as a contract photographer for the National Geographic Society, and commissions from such groups as the United States Postal Service, NHK and the BBC. Jimbrandenburg.com

Photographer James Day has a very impressive Client list and an even more impressive portfolio. His photos are filled with bleached out highlights and powerfull lighting. Jamesdayphoto.com

Sydney based photographer Andreas Smetana became one of Australia’s most popular emerging talents. Andreas has been globally recognized for his work, winning awards at some of the most prestigious Photography shows around the world. Smetana.net

Inspiring  photographic work by Joshua Stearns. Based in Los Angeles, California. Environmental portraits and fabricated images. Joshuastearns.com

DeviantART is a platform that allows emerging and established artists to exhibit, promote, and share their works within a peer community dedicated to the arts. The site’s vibrant social network environment receives over 100,000 daily uploads of original art works ranging from traditional media, to digital art, pixel art, films and anime. Deviantart.com

The Magnum Photos library is a living archive updated daily with new work from across the globe. You may search or browse our 500,000+ images which are available online for licensing in a variety of formats. Magnumphotos.com

Ideeinc gathered nearly 3 million stock photos from Alamy. Using their Piximilar visual search technology you can search the collection to find visually similar images. Labs.ideeinc.com/visual

This excellent colour search tool from Idée Multicolr Search Lab extracts the colours from 10 million of the most “interesting” Creative Commons images on Flickr. Idée Lab is using the Piximilar visual search technology to search the entire collection by selecting various colours. Labs.ideeinc.com/multicolr

Peter lives in Brooklyn, hails from the great state of Texas, and photographs subjects all over the world. Peter shoots lots of rock stars. He gets along with them because he’s a nice guy and not intimidating. This is confusing to Peter because he thinks he totally looks like a rock star. Peteryang.com

Los Angeles based commercial photographer Dave Hill is known for his unique style of photography with big, epic digital composites. It has left a huge impact on many photographers. Davehillphoto.com

500px is a photographic community powered by creative people from all over the world that lets you share and discover inspiring photographs with magic voting system, editorial selections & professional portfolios. 500px.com

Martin Schoeller is a New York based photographer whose style is distinguished by similar treatment of all subjects whether they are celebrities or unknown. His most recognizable work are his portraits, shot with similar lighting, backdrop, and tone. His work appears in The New Yorker, Outside Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, GQ, Esquire, and Vogue. Martinschoeller.com

Flickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community created by Ludicorp and later acquired by Yahoo!. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to host images that they embed in blogs and social media. It currently hosts more than 5 billion images. Flickr.com

Alex S. MacLean (born 1947) is an American photographic artist who’s best known for his spectacular aerial photographs. His pictures that portray both natural and man-made landscapes have been on display in numerous exhibitions and books. Alexmaclean.com

Stutgart based Photographer Stephan Zirwes shoots fabulous aerial pictures that gives an overview never captured before. His photos, from a vertical perspective, show the human civilization is making its mark on this earth. Stephanzirwes.com

The F STOP is an online magazine featuring the work of top photographers. Published monthly, each issue explores the work of one professional photographer. Articles combine an in-depth interview with a comprehensive behind-the-scenes deconstruction of the process of creating one powerful image. TheFstopmag.com

Toronto based Photographer Mark Zibert is a prize-winning commercial and documentary photographer who’s been making pictures since 2000. Markzibert.com

1x.com is an online photo gallery and a community for photographers. Anyone can register an account and upload photos, but only images selected by the site screeners/editors will be visible in the gallery which makes it different from most other photo communities. 1x.com

London based photographer Chris Gloag shoots Editorial, Corporate and Advertising photography. Chrisgloag.com

PBase is a Photo database, hosting and sharing portal with a large amount of web photo galleries en was conceived in July of 1999 after observing countless camera wielding people that take cool photos but find it difficult to share their work. Pbase.com