For my purpose, I “fixed” this by using a black object behind the image, and set the image size to 0x0 pixels when there is no data.
This way, the image area looks like a black box when there is no image data, then when there is image data I align it to the center of the black object, so there is still a black background.
Basically I wanted an image placeholder even when there is no data (the image data comes in live over the air and can change at any time/not yet exist). So I have essentially solved that problem but in a roundabout way.
In general I am not a fan of things like the hard coded “No\rData” or even “Text” as the default text for a label… wastes code space, etc. when you are just going to change it anyway (and if you want it blank, you have to explicitly set it to a blank string). But that is just my opinion…