There are many forms of Photo frames available, such as silver, gold and other colour tones add a touch of elegance and glamour to your photos besides attracting the attention of others. You may use them in your living room in your office. Thus, these frames double up as an attractive decorative item for your home and office. Framing your photographs helps to preserve them from the general wear and tear and also prevents the colours from fading away.

Currently, there are several attractive and unique Photo frames available at gift shops to choose from, and all at attractive prices. Though these frames are available in many different materials, wooden frames have been quite popular among the masses. All of them can be found at clear2c.co.uk.

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Why not start with Pixar. In the last years their films have dominated this category and there have been rumblings that some of their films should in fact compete with life action films for Best Picture of the year. Their films are that good. Winners in the past few years have included The Incredibles, Finding Nemo and Wall-E.

This year, their film Up has garnered the highest praise from critics being called the best animated film since, well…since Wall-e. An old widower sets out to achieve his wife’s lifelong dreams by floating his house with thousands of balloons and travelling to South America.

Ponyo
Hayao Miyazaki is one of the greatest and most successful film makers in Japan’s history. Like Pixar, Miyazaki’s movies are constantly on lists for the best films of the year, each and every year and if you come across a list of the top 10 animated films of all time chances are there will be more than one of his films represented. Miyazaki has won only once before in this category for the masterpiece, Spirited Away. This year his retelling of Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid garnered praise from all circles, even if not quite living up to his previous best.

Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs
Adapted from a children’s book with the same bizarre name this film is about honouring the strange and unique facets of humanity and how human ingenuity has the opportunity to solve seemingly impossible problems. At least that’s my take on it. Also a lot of big food falls from the sky. Highly regarded by most critics the film was produced by Sony Pictures Animation who have had previous nominees including Surf’s Up.

Coraline
Adapted from a book by Neil Gaiman this is a stop motion animated film produced by Laika films and directed by Henry Selick. Coraline is the story of a young girl who discovers an alternate reality where she finds another set of parents who at first seem to be everything she has ever wished for. As this is a rather gothic dark piece you can imagine things don’t stay that way. The film was highly regarded by critics not only for its story but the beauty of the animation technique.

Princess And The Frog
Surely this will be the academy’s sentimental favourite. Disney Animation Studio’s first 2D animated film in six years and their first since amalgamating with Pixar, garnered praise from critics worldwide. A twist on the traditional tale where a young princess kisses a frog who turns out to be a prince under a curse, this film is notable as its protagonist, Tiana, is Disney’s first African-American princess character. Given the studio’s salient place in animation they have never won the Oscar for best animated film.

It has been a rich year for animated feature films in 2009 and other possible films in contention include The Fantastic Mr Fox with outside chances from Astro Boy and Monsters vs. Aliens.

After spending time, and often a lot of money, for the right pieces of art, the works must be carefully placed or hung to best be seen and to complement the spaces they occupy. What is often overlooked is proper and effective lighting of the art. Imagine the difference in impact between an unlighted painting at the end of a hallway and the same painting artfully illuminated. In the first case, the painting will often fade into the background. A well lighted painting will become a focal point.

A picture can be illuminated either from a ceiling-mounted spotlight focused on the work, or from a tubular lamp mounted above it. A spotlight mounted at the right angle can provide excellent illuminating, but may have the drawback of attracting attention to itself as an element of the ceiling.

When considering a tubular light mounted above a painting, many of us think of the 8″ wide incandescent lights that have been prevalent for this type of lighting. These lights have been very warm in color, produce a fair amount of heat, and tend to illuminate just a small center area of a picture. Until recently, the only real alternative has been fluorescent lighting which, due to its color and potential flicker, has not really been an option.

Recent developments in LED lighting technology provide pleasing lighting colors in various widths of lighting strips, and allow the illumination to be focused on the artwork with minimal “spillage” onto the surrounding area. LEDs have the further benefit of producing virtually no heat, which can be destructive to artwork.

When choosing appropriate lighting for your paintings, here are some things to consider:

1. How much heat and infra-red radiation does a light source provide. In this case less is better.

2. Does the light source produce ultra-violet radiation which can be detrimental to artwork? Does the fixture provide ultra-violet filtering to eliminate the ultra-violet light?

3. What color is the light? The color should bring out the colors and mood of the piece being lighted. A painting with oranges and reds will be complemented by a warm-colored light. Conversely, a predominantly blue painting will look best with a cooler light.

4. Will the light provide even illumination over the width and height of a picture?