I apologize for my apparent inability to describe what i want to do. Let me try again.
I create a new canvas in Paint.NET.
I go to the layer menu and choose 'Import from file...' and import a JPG image. At this point - only the image itself has a selection rectangle and i can resize the image, move the image around, apply effects, whatever.
Once I feel i'm happy with the resizing, the positioning etc - I go and create a 2nd layer and bring in another image and do the same.
But, what if i want to go back to teh first image i loaded from a file and adjust the image size or move it around? I can no longer get the selection rectangle around just the image. I can go in the layers window and select the layer that CONTAINS that image, but now that layer fills the entire canvas.
It seems that I can only resize/move the image rectangle after i loaded it from a file. Once i start to work on a 2nd layer, i can no longer to back to the image on the first layer and resize/move it. It gets flattened to the layer once i create a 2nd layer.
Does this make sense?
Alan