I have 5MB of "free" space provided by RR (my ISP), and I have a gig of fast web space with 25GB/month bandwidth I pay for that I use when I need to host something big like videos (costs me about $6.50/month).
Most ISPs will provide customers with a few MB of space, which is plenty for hosting pics that are attached to messages (since those pics should be very small). You just need to set up the space and link to it.
You don't actually need a web page, just a URL that points to the picture. For example; if you go to:
http://home.hawaii.rr.com/geekgod
you get my uber-1337 web page. But if you go to:
http://home.hawaii.rr.com/geekgod/Cool.JPG
you get a picture (taken while diving off Kahé Point a few months ago).
When you post URLs you should use the URL tags to shorten it and provide a clickable link.
Example:
http://www.kamipiula.net/videos/Swim.AVI
Can be shortened by using the URL tags to:
Click Here to see my video (2MB AVI of Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins).
To post a picture instead of a link, use the Image tags and the picture will appear in the message...
Keep the picture size small (I usually use 320x240 or 512x384) and JPG compress it so it will load faster. This keeps the load times short (especially for dail-up users). If you want to post something large it's best to post a link so that people with slow connections can choose not to look if they don't want to. Note: you can post a small picture as the link to a larger one using a combination of the URL and Image tages (then people can click on the picture if they want to see the full version).
Short animations can be done in GIF format instead of video:
And if you click on the picture above you can watch the full 5MB Quicktime video of the RGB light in action.
Hope this helps.
Aloha, iG