does the act of the photographer posting images on a site like webshots.com basically say that the photographer is making the shots available for all to use freely? *sorry if this is a stupid question, i just thought i'd ask.
I dont think you can use them freely. http://www.webshots.com/html/terms.html Personal, noncommercial use http://www.cnetnetworks.com/editorial/permissions.html
Nope. Online photographs are only available to use freely if there is an explicit statement that the photos can be used freely. As brainstormingin pointed out, you should read the terms and follow them (and note that if you have ads on your site, that would generally be considered "commercial"). If there is a photo you'd really like to use, try contacting the photographer. An amateur might let you use it on your site for free or for a backlink.
Definitely not!. If an image is available online through any service it doesn't mean that it can be freely used, nor that it is in the public domain. You need express permission from the photographer if you want to use the image for any purpose (such as on a website, posters, cards etc.). Without permission it would still be a copyright violation even if you credit the photographer on your site. Also, it's up to you to obtain permission to use an image, BEFORE you use it. Not like most people want to believe that it's the copyright owner's responsibility to track you down and "ask" you to remove their copyrighted content from your site.