Layered Images Are Not Regular Images
They do not react to ALIGN or CENTER commands. They do not care if there is text in the way. They place right where you say to place them without any regard for what's around.
See the layered image above? All three images are placed 250 pixels from the left of the screen and 500 from the top. That's why they layer. I have them all in the same place. The thing is that the layered image will be at 250 in and 500 down no matter what. You must write the rest of your page accordingly leaving a big enough text space so the image has a place to sit. If not, it will layer right over what is sitting in its space. Which itself might be a neat effect....
But if you want it to sit in the open like mine, you need to leave a big space right where you want it to sit. I do it by adding these:
<P>
Each one of those adds two open lines. You need the to add a space on a line. You see, just putting in a lot of <P> commands won't do it. There has to be something on a line for the next <P> command to work. You can't use any character because you need the line to be blank, so use a space. That space is created by . And no, just inserting a space by hitting the space bar won't do it. You need the for the space.