A slideshow without images just isn’t the same. Unless you’re experimenting with the Takahashi Method of presentation, chances are you need pictures to keep your audience entertained with something that is visually appealing. But with such a vast source of pictures to use on the Internet,

it can be a bit overwhelming finding just the right one. Luckily there are a couple of hotspots where the most interesting, dynamic and quality pictures like to hang out. Point your browser to these websites and you’ll have more than enough images to make a great presentation.

For the Budget-Minded

You can cull amazing photos from places like Getty Images, but they will cost you a big chunk of change. In today’s uncertain economic climate, one can’t afford to drop fifty bucks on a stock photo, even if it is breathtaking. There are websites that have equally amazing pictures for a much tighter budget. iStockphoto.com is a great site with high-res pictures as cheap as $1-$3 per picture. Fotlio.com has a similar price range and a wide variety of photos. Stockxpert.com offers both downloads of stock photos and video content as well, for those who are looking to add a little extra oomph to their multimedia presentation

But I want something for free!

Let’s be honest here, the cheapest price is no price at all. If you want to go the free route, you’ve got plenty of options, but you have to make sure you know what you’re getting into. Search engines such as Google have categories for images, but don’t always offer the best quality. For best results, try narrowing your search down to just large and extra large images to ensure high quality photos. Flickr.com has a service where you can search for photos that have a creative commons license, which means you can use them for free. Since Flickr is an amateur and professional level photography site, you can find a great deal of stunning photos here if you look around. There are some free stock photo websites out there on the net that have fairly large collections. Publicdomainpictures.net and Everystockphoto.com are two great places to go looking for free photos that are comparable to the stuff you would find on a pay site. Even the United States National Archive has a database of free stock photos for public use at Archives.gov. This is only a small sample of the buffet of images the Internet has to offer. Add these websites to your bookmarks and you’ll have a great place to start the next time you need amazing photos for your presentations.