[slantyyz]

>> I've found it to be challenging to find professional-quality stock-like photos on Flickr amidst the millions of pictures of vacations.

If you need professional quality stuff, you should be paying for it from one of the many stock agencies around. The agencies have lots of rules and safeguards that are designed to save you the headache of worrying about whether model releases were signed, etc.

[ChrisNorstrom]

I've spend hundreds of hours searching through Creative Commons photos on Flickr for a wall mural business and know how much flickr search results suck. No matter what I search for I always end up eventually getting asian children at a temple in my results or other nonsense.

Also, photographers with GOOD images don't sell them for $0.05 on Fotolia, Dreamstime, etc... Getty Images sucks because of it's restrictions and $3,000 / price tag and prehistoric policies. If you check the stock photo site's payout rates you'll realize why they have so many generic images and so little amazing photography. The good photographers keep their stuff off those stock sites.