If you’ve never taken a photo or piece of art to a framer before you may not fully appreciate all the work that goes into make sure the artwork is displayed to its full potential.

There’s more to do than simply choose a frame that you like. You’ll also have to think about mounting the picture. That means selecting the colour of the mounting card and talking to your picture framer in Sway about how large the mount should be.

Let’s start with the basics. Mounting cards are an important part of picture framing. They help protect the artwork and ensure it sits properly in the frame. It might help to think of them almost as a frame within a frame.

You can choose mounting cards in a wide variety of colours. The best way to select the right one for your picture is to go to the framer and look at the options together. You can hold different coloured cards next to the artwork to see what works best with the colours.

The mounting card will give you space between the picture and the actual frame, so you should also think about how much room you want around your art.

If the photo or artwork is relatively small, but you’d like to display it in a large space, it can be a good idea to go for a larger mount to make the artwork stand out, Photographyspark pointed out last month. A small picture will get lost on a large wall but one that’s properly framed and mounted to look larger can work well.

Alternatively if you have a series of photos that you want to display in a single frame you could have a diptych or triptych. Choosing the right mounting and spacing between the photos will be crucial to the overall effect of your photo series.