I recently took a freelance job creating website templates (for a site that will sell them along with their web-based WYSIWYG site builder).

I've never worked on a job that does this (I usually only do full site design), so I didn't realize that getting images that are able to be re-sold in website templates is pretty tricky.

Any suggestions as to where I can get decent royalty-free photos without having to pay a fortune? Has anyone who has worked on templates like this ever been asked to be responsible for the images themselves, or do most provide them or comp for the image fee?

hey this is a site i use for making templates stock.xchng - the leading free stock photography site

I use that site a lot too, but a lot of the image licenses specifically say that they cannot be used in website templates that will be resold.

try this:
Where to Find Free Images and Visuals for My Blog - Robin Good's Latest News

Same problem with those sites...all the ones with decent selections specifically state that you cannot use them in website templates that will be resold. (Although, some will be very useful for other non-template projects I have, so thanks!)

Even some of the sites that you have to pay a subscription or per-image fee have this exception in their license.

Has anyone worked on a freelance job in the past where they had to create templates like this?