Extending the background of the expanded panel over the selected album.

[theG]

I am not fully happy with any of the suggested mockups but this is probably the suggestion i am most in agreement with.
Or perhaps using the color of the expanded panel as per hickup's original suggestion but keep the arrow and apply some extra contrast to the selection box so it stands out a little?
Any further comments?

Two options: blur out, and dim/alpha out elements other than the opened album? With a slider for each to choose the intensity.

[phred]

Or perhaps using the color of the expanded panel as per hickup's original suggestion but keep the arrow and apply some extra contrast to the selection box so it stands out a little?

Please apply some extra contrast for those of us who don't always have 'auto-pick panel colours' enabled.

[hiccup]

Two options: blur out, and dim/alpha out elements other than the opened album? With a slider for each to choose the intensity.

That's inventive, but blurring or dimming the other albums would make it difficult or even impossible to view/read those. And I think that's not desirable since you probably want to navigate further through those.