Featured Slider Questions

Hello, I have a few questions about the Featured Slider that I'm not finding answers to in the forum or in the instructions for Simple Catch. I am working on version 1.8 and would like to implement the Slider on the homepage. Here are the questions I have: 1.) Can you use an image different from the one used as an article's thumbnail (Featured Image that shows up with the article in the homepage archives) as the image in the Featured Slider simultaneously? Here's what I'm working with now (http://14thstreetoats.com/) and I'd like to have more variety as far as imagery goes on the homepage. 2.) Is there anyway to get rid of the grid overlay that seems to be apparent on all of the images in the Slider or is that always there? 3.) I know the preferred width of the image is ~978px, but is there a preferred height that I should keep in mind to make sure the image aligns correctly? I have vertically oriented images up in the featured slider now the work well with the thumbnails, but not well with the featured slider.   Thanks in advance for any help!   Abbott