Pictures should be stored on the hard disk and no data base will not fit here because it creates unnecessary load on the server. And what about how to store it, I would recommend to split into subfolders by id-photo like this: if pictures < 100k, that's enough /ff/32123e21.jpg. If > 100k && < 2m, then /ff/ff/321312312.jpg well, and c /ff/ff/ff/321312312.jpg in space...