My apologies...
Here is what i was thinking
If the small image would get (lets call this frosted, think dirty glass.) an overlay only applying to the small image itself (the image size attribute would be the constraints for the overlay)...in a forum post, when the large image would expand over it, the frosted image will not interfere with the image at attention that is being displayed. Like turning the opacity of a lower layer in photoshop down so you know whats there but it wont interfere with your workings on in higher layers. If the reduced image itself is overlain it will not share the same exact hues and tones as the expanding images above it and one can more easily identify the defining edges on the image when viewing making it easier on the eyes. I was however trying to just picture it all in my head so I may have made a misjudgement.
My basic thoughts came down to this... images may have a need to be handled different...
- Large solid screen capture type of images are opaque 100% so their requirements are moot here.
- Transparent ones can mess with your eyes when they expand so they need an overlay in between so they don't blend with page elements.
-Exposing the image by muting the page is a problem for those wanting to be able to read while viewing expanded images
My only single solution to those thought strings is to overlay the expanding image matted to a white overlay which does not expand past the image itself , maybe even using a one px outline with radius to match one of the forms styling ( like the divider between posts) could tie this in nice for a single option (on or off for expanded image expose) action. Otherwise the needs of everyone will differ so greatly that this will occupy a lot of dev time for something that isn't broken and can be compromised with minimal changes as compared to a million acp options.
Sorry if I'm not as clear as I should be. I will start making some standalone jquery pages for examples to explain my logic better as words today seem to be failing me
Should I give this a try?