Exactly, Sans. Putting a transparency on an image that doesn't have a clearly defined colour area inside the black is going to cause ghosting. Fran, put beads into Diffuse and Ambient. Do not put it into Ambience. Putting it into Diffusion will probably make the pic darker, so that might be what you want. As to the size, the plane has to have the same ratio, and preferably the same numbers. If the image is 700x800 pixels, the plane is best at 7x8 BU, or 70x80 or something like that. Multiples should also work IIRC.

-- erlik