15 minutes of frame

WHICH is worse, the silver tray stacked with silver-framed head shots or those frames engraved with the legend “World’s Greatest Golfer”?

Sorry, that’s just too close to call.

We are a nation of photo opportunists, placing them on every available surface (including the ubiquitous display ledge), incorporating them into room-dividing screens and dangling them from museum wires.

When it comes to hanging photographs on a wall, most designers agree that frames and mattes may vary in shape and size but should remain consistent in materials. In other words, don’t mix gilt bamboo with ebonized hardwood. On a desk or tabletop, this rule need not apply, particularly because frames now come in so many finishes -- from beaded to bronzed -- that will fit any decorating style and reflect the theme of the photograph.

That prom picture? It deserves to be in a bejeweled frame fit for a princess. Junior on a pony? Corral it into a Western-styled leatherette frame with embroidery at the corners. Your trip to the South Seas? Preserve that Kodak moment in a striped wooden frame or one studded with shells or layered in polished bone.

Of course, some prefer simplicity, the reigning principle for a unified collection. Such folks will probably gravitate toward metal frames, which add an air of serious elegance whether they are basic black iron or polished silver plate and are easy pieces for composing a tabletop tableau. Should that concept prove perplexing, don’t fret. Among its 100-plus designs, Umbra (www .umbra.com) offers several frames that can accommodate up to half a dozen photographs, creating an instant gallery.