space around figures and how to remove it [closed]

Question

I'm inputting several figures in my thesis and I'd like to know why there is always so much white space above and to the side of the figure and below the caption. Below the caption is particularly annoying but the 'offset' figure looks ugly too. Please see the picture. I've played with both the bounding box, the float dimensions, and figure dimensions. Other than making it really small to fit, I haven't found a good solution (using LyX). Suggestions? Thanks Dominik

EDIT: More info. SInce setspace was returning an error saying spacing was already defined, I pulled this out of the custom .cls file. ANy change this will garner an answer?

%%%%%%% DEFINE DOUBLE-SPACING (THE DEFAULT) AND OTHER SPACING:
\def\setspace@size{\ifx\@currsize\normalsize\@normalsize\else\@currsize\fi}
\def\doublespacing{ \ifcase \@ptsize \relax
       \def \baselinestretch {1.703}% 10pt -- EDIT (thesis=2.004; see line 251)
\or \def \baselinestretch {1.505}% 11pt -- EDIT (thesis=1.771; see line 252)
\or \def \baselinestretch {1.441}% 12pt -- EDIT (thesis=1.660; see line 253)
  \fi \setspace@size}
\def\singlespacing{\def \baselinestretch {1} \setspace@size \vskip \baselineskip}
\def\setstretch#1{\renewcommand{\baselinestretch}{#1}}
\def\@setsize#1#2#3#4{\@nomath#1
  \let\@currsize#1 \baselineskip #2
  \baselineskip \baselinestretch\baselineskip
  \parskip \baselinestretch\parskip
  \setbox\strutbox \hbox{ \vrule height.7\baselineskip depth.3\baselineskip
  width\z@} \skip\footins \baselinestretch\skip\footins
  \normalbaselineskip\baselineskip#3#4}
%%%%%%%%% floats & footnotes singlespaced %%%%%%%%%
\let\latexx@xfloat=\@xfloat
\def\@xfloat #1[#2]{\latexx@xfloat #1[#2]
\def\baselinestretch{1}\@normalsize \normalsize}
\long\def\@footnotetext#1{
  \insert\footins{
    \def\baselinestretch {1}
    \reset@font\footnotesize
    \interlinepenalty\interfootnotelinepenalty
    \splittopskip\footnotesep
    \splitmaxdepth \dp\strutbox \floatingpenalty \@MM
    \hsize\columnwidth \@parboxrestore
    \protected@edef\@currentlabel{
      \csname p@footnote\endcsname\@thefnmark}
    \color@begingroup \@makefntext{
        \rule\z@\footnotesep\ignorespaces#1\@finalstrut\strutbox}
    \color@endgroup}}
\long\def\@mpfootnotetext#1{
  \global\setbox\@mpfootins\vbox{
    \unvbox \@mpfootins
    \def\baselinestretch {1}
    \reset@font\footnotesize
    \hsize\columnwidth \@parboxrestore
    \protected@edef\@currentlabel{
      \csname p@mpfootnote\endcsname\@thefnmark}
    \color@begingroup \@makefntext{
       \rule\z@\footnotesep\ignorespaces#1\@finalstrut\strutbox}
   \color@endgroup}}
%%%%%%%% single / double spacing %%%%%%%%%
\def\singlespace{ \vskip \baselineskip \def\baselinestretch {1}
  \setspace@size \vskip -\baselineskip }
\def\endsinglespace{\par}
\def\spacing#1{ \par \begingroup \def\baselinestretch {#1} \setspace@size }
\def\endspacing{ \par \vskip \parskip \vskip \baselineskip
  \endgroup \vskip -\parskip \vskip -\baselineskip }
\def\doublespace{ \ifcase \@ptsize \relax
      \spacing{1.6}%1.703   10pt -- EDIT (thesis=2.004; see line 199)
  \or \spacing{1.4}%1.505   11pt -- EDIT (thesis=1.771; see line 200)
  \or \spacing{1.3  }%1.441 12pt -- EDIT (thesis=1.660; see line 201)
  \fi }
   \let\enddoublespace=\endspacing