-(void)updateImageViewContent {
    dispatch_async(
        dispatch_get_global_queue(DISPATCH_QUEUE_PRIORITY_BACKGROUND, 0), ^{
        UIImage * img = [UIImage imageNamed:@"background.jpg"];
        dispatch_sync(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
            [[self imageView] setImage:img];
        });
    });
}

-(void)touchesBegan:(NSSet *)touches withEvent:(UIEvent *)event {
    if (self.tag == 1) {
        self.backgroundColor= [UIColor redColor];
    }

    else {
    dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
    [self setImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"woodenTile.jpg"]];
  });
    [UIView animateWithDuration:0.25 animations:
        ^(){[self setFrame:CGRectInset(self.frame, 50, 50)];}];
    }
}

NSURL * url =  [ [NSBundle mainBundle]URLForResource:@"bois" withExtension:@"jpg"];
    NSURLRequest * request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:url];
    [self.imageView setImageWithURLRequest:request
                          placeholderImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"placeholder.png"]
                                   success:^(NSURLRequest *request, NSHTTPURLResponse *response, UIImage *image) {
                                       NSLog(@"success: %@", NSStringFromCGSize([image size]));
                                   } failure:^(NSURLRequest *request, NSHTTPURLResponse *response, NSError *error) {
                                       NSLog(@"failure: %@", response);
                                   }];

// this code works. Used to test that url is valid. But it's blocking the UI as expected.
if (false)
if (url) {
        [self.imageView setImage: [UIImage imageWithData:[NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:url]]]; }

dispatch_async(dispatch_get_global_queue(DISPATCH_QUEUE_PRIORITY_BACKGROUND, 0), ^{
    UIImage * img = [UIImage imageNamed:@"background.jpg"];

    // Make a trivial (1x1) graphics context, and draw the image into it
    UIGraphicsBeginImageContext(CGSizeMake(1,1));
    CGContextRef context = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext();
    CGContextDrawImage(context, CGRectMake(0, 0, 1, 1), [img CGImage]);
    UIGraphicsEndImageContext();

    // Now the image will have been loaded and decoded and is ready to rock for the main thread
    dispatch_sync(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
        [[self imageView] setImage: img];
    });
});

longpress.minimumPressDuration = 0.01;

[YourImageView setImageWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"http://image_to_download_from_serrver.jpg"]
      placeholderImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"static_local_image.png"]
               success:^(NSURLRequest *request, NSHTTPURLResponse *response, UIImage *image) {
                  //ON success perform
               }
               failure:NULL];

-(void)updateImageViewContent {
    dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{

        UIImage * img = [UIImage imageNamed:@"background.jpg"];
        [[self imageView] setImage:img];
    });
}

dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
    [self setImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"woodenTile.jpg"]];
  });

[self setImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"woodenTile.jpg"]];

FXImageView *imageView = [[FXImageView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 100.0f, 150.0f)];
imageView.contentMode = UIViewContentModeScaleAspectFit;
imageView.asynchronous = YES;

//show placeholder
imageView.processedImage = [UIImage imageNamed:@"placeholder.png"];

//set image with URL. FXImageView will then download and process the image
[imageView setImageWithContentsOfURL:url];

#import "UIImageView+AFNetworking.h"

Use **setImageWithURL** function of AFNetwork....

queue = dispatch_queue_create("com.myapp.imageProcessingQueue", DISPATCH_QUEUE_SERIAL);**

or

queue = dispatch_get_global_queue(DISPATCH_QUEUE_PRIORITY_HIGH,0);

dispatch_async( queue, ^{



            // Load UImage from URL
            // by using ImageWithContentsOfUrl or

            UIImage *imagename = [UIImage imageWithData:[NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:url]];

            // Then to set the image it must be done on the main thread
            dispatch_sync( dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
                [page_cover setImage: imagename];
                imagename = nil;
            });

        });