augh! how can i remove the top padding of the centre column (which I believe is what is causing the small space between the photo and the top edge)? I've tried removing padding from the images, from the posts, from everywhere i could find it, nothing seems to work!

http://chadmarcotte.com/

(he wants the photograph to butt up against the top of the page, and use side widgets to navigate - so, no header area whatsoever)

Part of this is because of the CSS insert

td#header {
padding-bottom:15px;

}

and the rest is because of the automatic <p>...</p> that wraps the image.

Why not make it the header image?

thank-you Juggle Dad! I did try it setting it as the header image.. then I cannot run little widget image buttons as the menu along the sides of it. i'll keep trying.

why don't you add a new widget area to the header with two cells, one can be teh image and the other the buttons you want.