So you’re a photographer wanting to build that dream photography website on WordPress… but you have a problem.
Choice.
WordPress has a reputation for providing an unrivalled opportunity for creatives (like you!) to design and build a truly unique website that reflects your personality, style, and reputation perfectly.
But that’s the problem.
A quick search reveals that there are more than 20,000 different WordPress themes available – how on earth are you going to choose which one to start using to craft your ideal photography website?
Well, that’s what we’re going to get sorted for you in this article.
There are several easy ways to narrow the options down, and since you’re almost certainly looking for a fast, responsive, customizable theme that offers security and all of the right features you need to promote your photography business – we’ve got you covered!
So, let’s widen the aperture, adjust the focus, and take a good look at the best WordPress themes for photographers.
One of the immediate ways in which you might choose to narrow down which themes are best is to consider block themes.
What’s a block theme?
Well, to put it simply, it’s a theme that’s made up of customizable blocks you can drag and drop wherever you want on the page. This makes it possible for you to be really creative, and produce the page layout and style that suits you best.
Also, block themes are known to be much faster than themes using any other page builders, or even many classic themes and templates, which makes for a much better experience for your visitors. This is key, since photography websites, by their very nature, tend to be image-heavy. That means it’s extra important to consider speed when choosing a theme.
Block themes are also generally very good when it comes to accessibility – a key consideration for anyone looking to build a WordPress website that meets the needs of all of its visitors.
We’ve been involved with both photography and building WordPress websites (and plugins!) for many years, so we’re happy to condense our experience into a list of our top 5 recommendations for WordPress themes that are suitable for photographers.
These all provide maximum customizability, speed, accessibility, and look fantastic!
#1: Ollie
Ollie is one of the most powerful block themes for WordPress.
Block themes, often talked about as the future of WordPress, let you make use of the WordPress Gutenberg editor to build your pages. This gives you much more customization options, better design control, and creative freedom.
Aside from that, Ollie also offers tons of portfolio templates tailored specifically to photographers.
These can speed up the website creation process and let you use the templates designed by successful photographers and web designers. In case you like their demo site, you can import it in its entirety with just a single click.
That means you don’t have to start from scratch – you just replace the default content with your own, and you’re done!
Ollie was created with photographers in mind, and so includes useful features such as:
- Visual customization options. Personalize the theme to match your brand.
- Parallax scrolling and animation effects. Add a dynamic aspect to your website.
- Customizable galleries. Present your photography in visually appealing formats that suit your style.
Ollie is a FREE WordPress photography theme – there is no premium version, yet (it’s in a development phase, though).
#2: Kadence
Kadence is one of the most intuitive WordPress photography themes out there.
In fact, we were able to use Kadence to design a beautiful photography website that showcased our portfolio in only a few minutes!
Also, with Kadence, you can focus entirely on your photography instead of web development.
Their starter template for photography only needs a few quick tweaks to build your site – you can do it even if you have no technical skills!
The accessibility of Kadence is also a huge bonus.
You don’t have to worry about your images shifting all over the place when browsing your site on different devices – unlike with the 90% of competitors who have inaccessible sites.
Although it may not seem that important, people who require some form of help with accessing website content make up to 25% of all traffic.
Kadence – while not a Block Theme entirely – integrates with the Gutenberg block editor, offering tons of styling options – so you can take complete control over the appearance of your site.
Kadence offers a FREE forever plan with everything you need.
If you’re looking for additional features, you’ll need a paid membership, which starts at $129 a year.
#3: Hideo
Hideo is a clean WordPress block theme designed for photographers.
It was designed by Anders Norén, a freelance designer who has released 29 free WordPress themes that have been downloaded a total of 4 million times.
He is also the developer of Twenty Twenty, the default theme in WordPress 5.3.
Every WordPress theme from Anders is:
- Highly customizable
- Extremely fast
- User-friendly
Now let’s go back to the Hideo theme!
Hideo is very slick, includes warm colors, strong typography and a marriage of straight lines and rounded corners that gives Hideo a unique artistic flair.
You can also choose from 7 different theme styles and 20+ block patterns.
(This is great for matching the theme with your branding while keeping it slick and aesthetically pleasing at the same time.)
Even though Hideo is minimalistic, it offers features you won’t find with most themes.
For instance, we found the fullscreen slideshow to be extremely useful for creating an immersive experience and showcasing high-quality images.
Another useful feature for photographers is video background support.
Hideo supports video backgrounds, enabling photographers to use dynamic and engaging content to grab attention.
If your main goal is to showcase your portfolio to the world, this is a great theme to help you achieve that.
Hideo is a FREE WordPress theme – you can use it to the fullest without spending a penny!
#5: GeneratePress
GeneratePress is a WordPress theme that focuses on speed, stability, and accessibility.
It’s one of the most lightweight themes out there – and it stays lightweight even if you start customizing it.
This is great since you certainly don’t want visitors to have to wait ages for images to load!
GeneratePress offers 100+ starter templates you can choose from.
Most of them are very appealing and suitable for photographers. You’ll definitely find the one that meets all your needs – even if it needs just a few tweaks.
What makes GeneratePress a great WP theme for photographers is its design capabilities. You have full control over almost everything:
- Typography
- Color palettes
- Custom CSS
- Display rules
- Sidebars
- Widgets
GeneratePress also includes unique layout creation.
This means that you get granular control over important items such as blog posts, footers, and primary navigation – a feature you’d normally not have! This provides you with another layer of control you don’t get with most themes.
GeneratePress is available for FREE on WordPress.
To get more design options and support, you can purchase the premium plans, starting at $59.95 per year.
What’s Your Favorite WordPress Photography Theme?
The best WordPress theme for photographers lets you take full control of your design while also offering a fast and immersive experience.
To learn more useful tips for photographers, check these resources:
- How To Fix The Two Most Common WordPress Image Upload Issues
- 10+ Best WordPress Plugins For Photographers In 2022
- Image SEO For Photographers
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