This is almost an overwhelming topic- so much of what users of a website take away are the images they view. Whether pictures, graphics, text that functions as a graphic, or animations, images work together with the color scheme to convey a mood to the user. Three questions which should guide the selection process are:
1. Is it relevant?
2. Is it interesting?
3. Is it appealing?
A variety of things can be used to enhance, clean up and modify image files to create the emotion, look or feel you seek in the overall scheme of your site. Photoshop and other similar programs have editing software that allows you to crop, filter, modify colors and shapes, as well as use aspects of one picture with another to create a completely new idea.
Another major issue in using images is ownership rights. There are several options, including self-originated photography, royalty-free stock photography, rights-managed stock photography and images with a Creative Commons license (free for use under certain conditions). One option that should be avoided is stealing copyrighted images from other sites.
Personally, I'm using graphics I created in Photoshop from images with a Creative Commons license, which allows all use except for commercial. Since the site I have is a school site, there is no conflict of interest.
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