The picture frame has many different uses all working towards to same goal, displaying a picture. One use is to hang a picture to a wall; another is to enhance the picture itself visually. Wood and metal have been most notoriously used over the years but more extravagant frames have been made from all sorts of things including sea shells. Electronic and digital picture frames have most recently been used to enhance picture frames.

The original use of picture frames was to protect and support a painting they a person wished to hang on a wall. A person could nail or screw the picture frame to the wall instead of being forced to puncture the painting which was held within the frames four borders.

Protecting the picture is another great use of the picture frame. A sheet of glass can be put over the picture and between the frame’s four borders. Plexiglas has replaced glass in most cases today. This is all done in order to prevent insects from landing on and damaging the picture. It also keeps dust and other airborne things from harming the picture. Finally people are kept away from the surface of the painting by the glass.

The picture frame can be used to do more than hold and protect the picture. It can enhance the picture that it contains. Picture frames can be made to be beautiful works of art on their own and can visually better the look of the picture. Artists interested in creating through woodcarving can carve into wooden frames making lovely designs. Metal frames can be modified by metal workers, who mold the metal into desirable shapes throughout the surface of the frame.

Today not all pictures are used to house beautiful works of art. They are used with our family portraits, baby pictures, and baseball team photographs. At first the picture frames that were used to hold these types of pictures could only be plain wood or metal. The average person would not want to buy a hand crafted frame for a picture that they would merely hang on their wall.

With modern technological advancements the picture frame has greatly changed in the modern household. Electronics have been added to the frames, allowing light bulbs to be put inside. A person’s favorite Christmas picture can be displayed with red and green colors around the outside.

The most recent advancement to picture frames is digital picture frames. By using digital frames a person can look at their picture without physically having them inside the frame. A picture is taken with a digital camera and then loaded into the digital frames computer. The digital screen inside the picture frame can then display any picture uploaded. The digital frame can also be set to show a number of pictures on a slide show, which means that the frame will show a number of pictures on after the other.

Some say that these factors make the basic picture frame inferior to the digital camera because it can do the work of dozens of picture frames by itself. MP3 audio files can also be uploaded to the digital picture frame allowing a person to enjoy a song while they enjoy the pictures. Others say that the traditional picture frames are not comparable to the digital because you are not truly able to see the picture, just its image displayed on a screen. These things are for the consumer to decide on their own accord. Which one best meets their needs and their preferences.