This is a really quick, easy and simple method of adding a featured image to wordpress pages or posts.
Simply open your theme’s functions.php file, go to the bottom, and just before the ?> paste this
add_theme_support( 'post-thumbnails' );
This will then enable the “Set Featured Image” option within WordPress.
How to get it to show in your theme?, paste this somewhere
<?php if (has_post_thumbnail()){the_post_thumbnail();}?>
For FULL usage instructions, along with using specific image sizes, and how to impliment them in your wordpress theme visit here:
http://codex.wordpress.org/Post_Thumbnails#Default_Usage