The problem with trying to post a flavor picture along with your blog post is the sheer difficulty of finding one that fits - both the with your content and the dimensions of your blog. For the longest time, I have been using stock.xchng and still, despite their extensive collection you will eventually stumble upon a lot of for-use-with-owner-permission pictures. I often end up skipping those to avoid the hassle of waiting for the owner to give me permission for a picture that I intend to use in a post I am supposed to publish today.

Only recently, after purchasing a decent enough prosumer camera that I am able to start using my own photos for blog posts. Still, the difficulty with the latter is having to bother shooting something and models and subjects aren’t available daily on demand. Ripping someone else’s photo without attribution is mucky.

At least these concerns are addressed by this web tool - PicApp - a service that’s dedicated for bloggers in dire need of free and legal pictures to post on blogs. What separates it from stock photo databanks is that PicApp might yield the most recent press release (and some spyshot) photos, for free. No need for paying for fees for you to use in just one post (like with Getty Images). It offers an extensive enough database for subjects.

All you have to do is to search for images related to your keyword, select the picture of your choice, modify a few options like the size and whether you want it as an animated or still image. No need for further editing since all you have to do is to embed it to you code. The pictures are viewable via a Flash SWF interface. Pretty much like YouTube or that Flickr widget. The reason why PicApp can offer all of these for free is that it has sponsored links (advertisements) at the bottom of the images.

It’s great, I tell you. Such an extensive collection of photos dished out for free. If you don’t mind the ads, then this is close to perfect. It’s still in beta and we’d just have to wait for what more is in store for us when they finally launch.

Visit PicApp here.