dovrebbe esserci tutto il necessario
se ti serve altro sono qua e ti risp al volo

Grazie!
....

public class CephaloxPanel extends JPanel{

public Image image;

public CephaloxPanel() {
super();
}

public void set_Image (Image img) {
this.image = img;
}

public void paint(Graphics g) {
super.paint(g);

if(image != null)
g.drawImage(image, 0, 0, this);
}

}

classe Cephalox....

private CephaloxPanel side_image;

public Cephalox() {

this.info = new javax.swing.JLabel();
this.side_image = new CephaloxPanel();
this.side_image.setBackground(Color.BLACK);

init_keyPoints();
initComponents(); //inizializza tutta la finestra
this.setSize(600, 500);

jSplitPane1.setRightComponent(side_image);

info.setText("Carica immagine...");
info.setForeground(Color.GREEN);
info.setFont(new java.awt.Font("Bitstream Vera Sans", 0, 10));

side_image.setLayout(null);
side_image.add(info);

info.setBounds(20, 10, 300, 30);

}


private void loadActionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt) {
try {

JFileChooser fc = new JFileChooser();
fc.showDialog(this, "Scegli l'immagine da processare");
fc.setFont(new java.awt.Font("Bitstream Vera Sans", 0, 10));

f = fc.getSelectedFile();


///////////// imposta l'immagine di sfondo ///////////////
this.side_image.set_Image( Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().createImage(f.getAbsol utePath())
);

this.info.setBounds(20, 10, 300, 30);
this.info.setText("Immagine caricata!");

side_image.add(info);

this.repaint();

this.validate();

}
catch (Exception e) {}
}