Home page design elements

Question

Design

When designing the main page of a contextual site, what are the pros and cons of using a thematic photo?

I noticed that very often the design of large portals excludes photos and images, and in many designs that you can buy photos are inserted. The question is why?

Answer 1

On Habré there was an interesting post just on this topic.

Answer 2

If by “design that you can buy” you mean all sorts of template monsters, then portal designs rarely flash there, mostly business card sites, where information is two sentences and three pictures, counting the logo. Therefore, they dilute it there, than not getting into it.
Portals usually have the opposite situation - they have a ton of content and a strong lack of space, quickly filled with banners and all kinds of widgets. Therefore, no one wants to hang something abstract there.