Digital Photo Frames and Mats: How to Choose One and Print It Well

A frame finishes a photo: it separates the picture from whatever is around it and sets a mood. A digital frame does the same job on a print or on screen without buying moulding and mat board. This guide covers how to pick a frame that suits the photo, how Pixemon applies frames, and the few things to check so the framed print comes out right.

What a frame does for a photo

• It separates the photo from its surroundings. A pale photo on a pale wall, or a dark photo on a dark page, loses its edges. A border restores them.
• It gives the eye a resting place. A mat, the plain band between photo and frame, leaves space around the picture so it does not feel crowded.
• It sets the tone. Rough wood feels relaxed, gold feels formal, flowers feel celebratory, and a plain white mat feels like a gallery.

The frames in Pixemon

Pixemon has 20 textured frames plus plain white and black borders. They fall into five groups:

Choosing a frame for the photo

• Match the mood, not just the colours. A relaxed beach photo looks odd in baroque gold; a formal graduation portrait looks underdressed in rough barnwood.
• Busy photo, quiet frame. A photo full of people, patterns, or bright colours needs a plain mat or a thin border. Leave the decorative frames for simple photos with space around the subject.
• Pick up a colour from the photo. A warm oak frame suits golden evening light; a cool grey timber suits a winter scene or black and white.
• When unsure, use a white mat. It rarely looks wrong and keeps attention on the photo.

How Pixemon applies a frame

Open a photo, choose a paper size, then pick a frame from the Border menu. On a computer it is in the print settings bar under the photo; on a phone, swipe to the Border & denoise card.

The frame is placed around the paper area, the outline Pixemon shows on the photo for the chosen paper size. When you save or print a framed photo, Pixemon outputs exactly that area with the frame around it. The parts of the photo outside the outline are not included, so position the photo before choosing the frame. You can rotate the outline between upright and sideways with the rotate button next to the paper size.

Which paper shapes frames suit best

Pixemon's textured frames are drawn for the 2:3 upright shape of a 4 × 6 print. On a different shape, such as a sideways print or an 8 × 10, the frame is stretched to fit, which can visibly distort wood grain or flowers. For those prints, the white mat, the double mat, and the plain white or black borders stretch least noticeably.

Using your own frame

You can upload your own frame as a PNG, JPG, or WebP image under 2.5 MB. Pixemon treats the near-white parts of an uploaded frame as see-through, so design the frame with a plain white centre where the photo should show. Uploaded frames are saved in your browser for next time.

Printing a framed photo

• Keep faces away from the edge. The frame covers the outer part of the paper area, so leave space around important details when you position the photo.
• If it is going into a real frame as well, remember that a physical frame's lip covers a few millimetres on each side. A digital mat helps here, because the lip then hides mat rather than photo.
• Avoid borderless printing. It enlarges the print slightly and trims the outer edge of the frame. Print at 100% instead.
• Choose the paper finish to suit the frame. Matte paper suits wood, botanical, and mat frames; glossy or lustre paper suits gold and bright photos.
• Check resolution. The photo inside the frame should still have about 200 to 300 pixels per inch at the printed size; our print resolution guide explains how to check.

Frames in collages

A frame can also go around a whole collage. Because collages already have several photos and their own white spacing, a plain mat or a thin border usually works better there than a decorative frame. See our collage layout ideas for more.

Related guides: making a print-ready collage and fixing photo colour and brightness.