Hello! I would be happy to explain how to get photos for your profile and signature.
If this is too simple, sorry, I just didn't want to leave anything out!
Ok step one!
[spoiler='Instructions']
Locate your username at the top of the H&E page. It should look like this.
(I changed my theme to green, so don't panic if the color is different!)
Click on your username and a drop down menu should appear.
Click on "My Settings" and you will be brought to your User CP or User Control Panel.
To change your profile picture, click on "Change my photo..."
If you want to upload a photo from your computer, click on, "Choose file." You can choose any picture that you want. You are also able to crop your photo if you only want part of it to be your profile picture.
If you want to add a photo with a url, you must have an account with a photo uploader like Photobucket, or upload images with sites like Imgur or Tinypic.
There are several tutorials out there for various photo hosting sites. Here is a good tutorial for Photobucket though that I've found. Once you've uploaded your photo with that site, just copy and paste the 'direct' link into the box labeled, "Import a photo from url."
Ok. To add a picture to your signature, you MUST use a url. So you must upload your picture with a photo hosting account.
To edit your signature, click on the "Signature" tab in your User CP.
Scroll down and you should see a place to edit your signature.
Click on the icon that looks like a picture/painting. (I've outlined it in red.)
This will open up a box in the page to put a url.
There are guidelines for how large your picture can be and how many things you can put into your signature which can be found here.
Stay posted though! We've recently had a big update and we are still working on the format of the site. There could be updates to the signature rules in the near future.
Now, if you are asking how to put a background picture in your profile, I am sorry to say that that option is not available for non-Moderator/non-Administrator members.