It's also interesting that many people have a blog or website, but choose pictures and images taken by others. I certainly understand that many of your pictures don't need to be used this way, but there are definitely many good quality images that can be used as a whole, or in part (for example, zoom in on a hand, face, tree, building, sky, etc.)
Many of us have thousands of our own good images to look through, yet don't utilize them. This blog serves as one small example of how you can use your own images, ones that have already been taken or snapped for a particular purpose or story.
Here are the quick steps I use (feel free to follow these or make your own):
1. Find the story. I've made it a habit to look through the pictures on my computer (I use iPhoto). Writing this blog is good for something like that. Inspiration is a bound when you look through your own recent, and older pictures. The challenging part is often making it through more than a few minutes of looking without stopping to write down ideas.
Sometimes ideas come when you're out and about. For example, I recently saw a tree route running through the sidewalk, and it inspired a story. Having a camera with you really helps with this, and most camera phones today take pretty amazing pictures, especially if you have really good lighting (mid morning and mid evening tend to be best).
2. Prepare your picture or image. Everyone has their own style and preferences, so let yours shine through. I like to make my images black and white. There's something about the details that come through when you're focused on the image and not the colors (but this is my preference and certainly not anything against using color).
Turning an image black and white is easy. I have a Mac, so all you need to do is click on the image in iPhoto, then Edit ---> Effects ----> B & W. You can also open the picture in Preview, then click Tools ----> Adjust Color ----> Move your Saturation Bar all the way to the left.
3. Finalize image. I like to add one more touch to my images. I open Keynote, then click and drag the image onto a plain white background. Then, adjust the image to about 300 x 230 pixels (this is just an estimate to give you an idea of the size, feel free to experiment) and create a reflection, Inspector ---> Graphic ---> Reflection. This gives the image a little bit of a 3D look on the website.
Now all you need to do is write a blog, add the image, and post your work.
Using your own photos gives everything a little bit more of a 'home' feel, and not so commercial (not that commercial is bad, I just prefer things 'look like me'). So give it a try, you might find it much more inspiring and fun to use your own photos for things like this, and more!
