As far as i know posting images is available to all users. I could be wrong. It took me a long time to figure out how to post images and even then it was to some degree a happy accident.
I do it that way also except I copy the "Hotlink to website" info. I then come back to FA and paste it into to the (Post) box. Once I have pasted it into that area I go up and click and drag on the (Make post) area and select (using HTML and UBBCode.