In my brief scan, most of these designs seem to center around tasteful use of photography; there isn't as much in the way of impressive web design.
Good photography undoubtedly improves the visual appeal of a site, but I often find myself in a position with just layouts, text, and a few assets. Being able to turn your basic tools into a visually appealing site is what I see as excellent web design.
I don't agree nor disagree with you. :-) A great site is only great with good content - be it either text or images. There are plenty of sites to be found on there where imagery is sparse but the typography is beautiful.
The one thing I've always struggled with is translating design as described by a landing page to the design of specific components; Forms, modals, and other parts of the application. I would like to see combination screen shots of landing pages and these components to see how the designer was able to achieve this.
Maybe beyond the scope of "inspiration," but my two cents none-the-less.
It's hard to find good inspiration galleries that feature modern design and code. Drawar's gallery (no longer around) used to be my favorite, but lately I've mainly used Unmatched Style:
No. I'm just going on the assumption that everyone would like to see traffic to their site, and I make it clear in the footer that all screenshots are the copyright of their owners.
In its history (since 2009) I've had one take down request, from a photographer who was tired of having his work ripped off so wanted to keep a low profile.
Good photography undoubtedly improves the visual appeal of a site, but I often find myself in a position with just layouts, text, and a few assets. Being able to turn your basic tools into a visually appealing site is what I see as excellent web design.