Lytebox:
After a little contemplating, I had decided that, while it helps to give a more integrated feel by eliminating the need to navigate away from the board almost entirely.
Lytebox is an awesome javascript plugin (so yes you'll need javascript enabled to use it) where image hyperlinks are displayed on the page with a cool transition, in a little preview window, rather than being loaded in a separate tab or window on their own. It also dynamically resizes the images to fit within your browser window snugly. This is exceptionally useful when dealing with large pictures on low resolution monitors.
However, do not fret, if you wish to load the image manually as before, simply right-click the image and proceed to load it in a new tab or window and that will display the image where you selected. I personally believe that it makes the experience more seamless and adds a little visual flare.
I hope you agree and find it pleasant to use, let me know what you think.