How can I improve quality of stockphotos for website design?

To submit samples of website designs I have been using stockphotos with watermarks. But their low resolution is affecting the quality of work. Can any one help me out in this matter? How to use them, specially in banners where using big images is sometimes necessary.

Well. You create a small version of the design to compromise for the low quality photo.

Thanks for your reply Meow. But dont we have any less time consuming way?

Thanks for your reply Meow. But dont we have any less time consuming way?

hmm.. how are you building the website? Photoshop, Dreamweaver? If the quality of the photo is really that bad, then yeah scale down your design then add the photo in afterwards when you submit your entries. Either that or try using the unsharp mask filter in Photoshop to see if you can sharpen the photo a bit