Whether photography is your business or your hobby, your website needs to showcase your work in the best way possible – and as always, WordPress has a theme for that. Photographers, artists, and other creatives can set up an attractive and fully functional WordPress site using standard themes and plugins for the added functions they need, but the current crop of free and premium WordPress themes designed specifically for photographers bring together all the tools you need to present your images and promote your business to the world.
What Should a Photography Website Include?
WordPress is the world’s most popular website builder and content management system, and one reason it is downloaded and used by millions of personal and business sites around the globe is it’s easily adaptable to fit just about every need. The core WordPress code contains all the essential elements for a basic website – and with thousands of themes and plugins available, it can be customized for highly niche-specific functions, such as photography.
Along with all the standard parts of a website, photography websites have a variety of uses: as a static portfolio, an interactive portal for working with clients, an online storefront for selling prints and other products, or a vibrant social blog. Whatever its form, a photography website for personal or professional use needs tools for placing galleries, sliders, and videos prominently on the site’s homepage and other high-traffic areas.
Depending on the photographer’s niche and goals, a photo site might also need specialized tools, such as a photo proofing gallery, ecommerce tools for selling prints and other products from the site, and clearly visible contact pages. And because many photographers are setting up and running their sites on their own, quality WordPress photography themes need to be easy to use, with drag and drop simplicity and mobile responsiveness to reach the rapidly growing market of smartphone and tablet shoppers.
The best WordPress photography themes are user-friendly, packed with design and layout options, and styled with sophistication and specialized tools to meet the needs of all kinds of photographers. Here’s a look at ten of the best free and premium WordPress photography themes available today.
Uncode
Topping the list of WordPress themes for photographers of all skill levels and goals, Uncode is a premium responsive theme for photography and other kinds of creative work. Highly customizable with multiple layout options for setting up galleries and portfolios, Uncode also comes bundled with Woocommerce, the leading WordPress ecommerce plugin for adding online sales to the site.
Oshine
Like Uncode, Oshine is a responsive, full-featured premium WordPress theme for photographers, as well as artists, designers, and other visual creators. Along with a robust collection of gallery and slider options, Oshine comes with a drag and drop page builder for easily designing and publishing pages and posts.
Photocrati
Photocrati is a unique premium WordPress theme for photographers and other visual artists that has no fixed design. Rather, it comes with more than 60 templates for different layouts and purposes, such as wedding or travel photography, plus built-in SEO and ecommerce tools for professional photographers to sell and promote their work.
Kinetika
Kinetika emphasizes collaboration. This premium theme includes numerous portfolio options, as well as sliders and support for video, and it comes with a proofing gallery that allows clients to work with the photographer to select and edit images for any project.
Framed
A premium WordPress theme designed specifically for professional photographers, Framed is a responsive, minimal theme that includes multiple slider layouts, a range of gallery options, and seven demo sites for different photography niches such as wedding or travel photography. Framed also comes with the drag and drop page builder Elementor for creating posts and pages with ease.
Aurel
A full-featured premium photography theme, Aurel includes more than 200 pages, albums, and gallery functions for professional photographers to present their best work. Aurel comes with the drag and drop page builder Elementor, and also includes a photo proofing gallery so that clients can select the photos they want.
Photography
As the name suggests, Photography emphasizes professional-level gallery presentations with more than 40 different layout options and robust social media integration. This fully responsive premium WordPress theme also includes full screen, split screen, and parallax viewing options and tools for blogging.
Pixgraphy
Pixgraphy is a free WordPress theme that comes bundled with the page builder Elementor. Responsive and customizable, Pixgraphy also includes gallery and contact page templates, plus support for popular WordPress plugins such as Woocommerce and Jetpack, the full-featured social media and SEO bundle from WordPress.com.
Portfolio Gallery
A responsive free theme with multiple customizable layouts, Portfolio Gallery is made for presenting a photographer’s portfolio in style. Portfolio Gallery includes SEO tools and a range of typography and layout options for adding text and arranging images.
Jevelin
Jevelin is a responsive premium photography theme that comes with numerous layouts and shortcodes for adding a variety of different functions to a photography site. Jevelin also includes customizable animations, gallery, and slider options for presenting high-resolution photographs in a variety of sizes.
Photography websites come in many forms – and no one theme can meet all the very different needs of photographers and artists. But whether you’re a hobbyist who wants a way to share your work with the world, a travel photographer/blogger who recounts adventures in words and pictures, or a wedding photographer seeking new clients, your photography website needs a theme that supports your goals. The best WordPress photography themes have the tools to create a stunning showcase for your best images – and with a mix of free and premium options, there’s a theme for every budget and every photography niche.
Comments