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The picture frame is a multi purpose tool that holds a picture to a wall, and enhances the images it holds visually. Over the years wood and metal have been used most when crafting picture frames, but other things have been used as well, including sea shells. Most recently electronics and digital picture frames have been used in addition to standard picture frames.

Picture frames original use was to support and protect paintings that they wished to hang on walls. Instead of puncturing the work of art with a nail or screw, the painting could be preserved by putting four wooden borders around it and nailing that to the wall.

The picture frame can be used to protect the painting. A sheet of glass was placed between the frame’s sides and over the painting. Today Plexiglas has replaced glass for most picture frames. This would prevent insects from landing and harming the painting. It also prevented dust from landing on the paintings and damaging them. Lastly the glass was used to prevent people from touching and or harming the fragile works of art.

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 modern advancement in picture frame technology is the digital picture frame. By using digital frames a person is not required to physically have the picture within the frame. A person can take a digital picture with their house hold camera and display it on the digital picture frames. These frames can even display more than one picture. The frame can be set to slide show the pictures and show several pictures one after the other.

By using a single digital picture frame a person can do the work of dozens of normal picture frames with the printed out pictures inside. Digital picture frames can also be used to store MP3 audio files so you can listen to music while looking at your picture you have put on display. Some people may say that these qualities makes the digital picture frame superior, others say it is not comparable because you are not actually looking at the picture itself but a screen portraying its image. This is for the consumer to decide, which one meets their needs, as well as their visual preferences.