In days gone by, photographers would have to pull out ‘the book’ – a bound portfolio filled with their best work. Fast forward to today, and digital portfolios rule the roost. There are numerous benefits to showcasing your work online, including ease of access and enhanced options for interactivity – all possible when you choose the right theme.
One of the first decisions you’ll make when plumping for a suitable photography theme is whether you pick a free option, or stump up for a premium offering. If your budget is tight, some free photography WordPress themes can be just as powerful as their paid counterparts.
While flexible design and navigation options are nice, the real dealmaker is the image layout choices at your disposal, such as the popular masonry and grid designs. Choosing the right one is often key in creating a unique and attractive portfolio.
If you’re looking to build your own photography website, we’ve got you covered! Below, we’ve dug through a myriad of choices to bring you over 15 of the very best free photography WordPress themes – and for those with a little cash to splash, you may also want to sift through some premium options too.
1. Sydney
If you want to keep your photography portfolio active, you’ll need to post fresh content on a regular basis. Sydney enables you to showcase your work and run a professional blog.
Sydney’s photography starter site comes with visual-heavy pages to help you promote your work. Plus, the theme is very customizable. You can redesign the header, change the typography and colors, and choose your blog layout. It also lets you create multiple sidebars for your pages.
The theme seamlessly integrates with WooCommerce. This makes Sydney an ideal choice if you want to sell some of your work online. It also works well with the Elementor and Beaver Builder page builders, and you can use these tools to build a portfolio that stands out.
If you want additional functionality for your photography portfolio, like a blog and store, a multi-purpose theme like Sydney might be the perfect fit.
2. PhotoFocus
A picture may be worth a thousand words but strategic text placement can go a long way towards complementing your message. PhotoFocus gives you the best of both worlds with an image-forward theme supported by robust text functionality.
While this theme has been specifically designed with photography in mind, it also comes with features for anybody looking to prioritize images. PhotoFocus comes with five template pages and is outfitted with features such as a dynamic page slider control and customizable post types.
The functional text options also complement the variety of alignment and sizing options available for images. As such, there’s an understated look in nearly every combination. If you’re looking for a little more design substance, PhotoFocus also comes with built-in tools to help you add header and footer scripts. To make any unique changes, PhotoFocus lets you add your own CSS to override the theme’s design. While this requires you to have some coding knowledge, it provides an opportunity to make your site unique.
If you’re interested in options for customizing down to the code or finding a diverse way to support your photographs, PhotoFocus should go on your shortlist.
3. Pixgraphy
With the Pixgraphy WordPress theme, you get a large full-screen header image. This is something you don’t usually see with free WordPress themes, so it’s definitely worth looking into if you’re trying to find a platform that grabs attention right from the start.
Social media buttons are located at the top, and you’ll notice that they are each branded just right for this theme. You don’t have to worry about going out to find a third-party plugin for social media buttons either. In addition, the logo is situated at the top of the homepage, making it easy to brand your site and give people an idea of what website they are on.
Contact information goes at the top left corner, and you have some overlaying text on the header for implementing call to action text or to simply tell people what your site is all about. This is a completely responsive WordPress theme for photobloggers and hobbyists.
The layout looks rather impressive on the mobile interface, as all of the images and text modules snap right into place when they need to.
4. Gutenify Photography
A free theme doesn’t always mean fewer customization options, and Gutenify Photography is proof. This block-based theme lets you edit almost every aspect of your site.
With Gutenify Photography, you can customize the theme’s built-in templates using the WordPress Site Editor. You’ll get templates for the archive, product, and other pages, as well as three different header styles to choose from. Additionally, you can easily change the colors and typography and create your own templates.
Plus, the theme comes with the Gutenify plugin, which adds a collection of new blocks to your site. These include gallery carousels, sliders, testimonials, and more. Each block contains advanced features such as adding class names, padding, and margins.
If you want to create a truly unique photography site (for free!), Gutenify might be the right option for you. It’s also the ideal theme for those who are already familiar with the Site Editor.
5. Fotographie
The Fotographie WordPress theme packs quite the punch as a highly visual, free theme for photographers of all skill levels. It’s a modern theme with a minimal design and numerous features to use.
A large header image starts off the homepage but that leads to multiple other banner images with a navigation menu and a logo area in between. The hero content is worth looking into, and the portfolio takes only a moment to configure. There’s a featured content area for showcasing your best work, along with a setting to adjust your site colors.
Fotographie is ready to be translated as well. So if you have foreign clients or are trying to get more readers from different places, the Fotographie theme helps you along the way. The theme has both one and two-column settings, with sidebars to feature widgets and a flexible header to adjust the way you welcome users. You also receive footer widgets for placing things like contact information or maybe a contact form.
Overall, the Fotographie theme looks great and doesn’t take too much to manage.
6. Neve
Getting hired as a photographer is difficult enough without having a kick-ass portfolio you can use to showcase your work. Neve is a flexible theme built with photographers in mind.
This theme includes literally dozens of ready-to-use website templates that are perfect for small businesses. Every template looks different but they all share a commitment to a modern, clean design style. Chances are you’ll find a template that already includes all the pages you need, so you can get your website up and running faster.
As far as features go, Neve is optimized for speed. It enables you to customize every aspect of the layout you choose. Plus, it’s compatible with most modern WordPress page builders, which gives you even more control over your portfolio’s style.
Neve is a winning pick for photographers and small business owners of all types.
7. OceanWP
When you’re building a photography website, the theme you choose plays an important role in how your work is displayed. If you want variety and flexibility, take a look at OceanWP.
This modern, multipurpose theme comes with plenty of support for popular page builder plugins such as Elementor, Divi, and Beaver Builder, making it particularly easy to use. It also includes a lot of customization options such as header styles and the ability to create custom layouts and sections.
The free photography demo provides a clean, minimalist way to showcase your work. You can make a great first impression by displaying your best photos right on the homepage in an image grid. The about section offers a space to describe your style, experience, and personality. Plus, the embedded form on the homepage makes it simple for potential customers to get in touch with you.
Overall, OceanWP is a solid way to quickly build a site that reflects your work’s unique style and purpose.
8. Photograph
Any theme that’s bold enough to call itself Photograph needs to knock the ball out of the park when it comes to visuals. However, is this particular theme worth a thousand words?
We can sum up what makes Photograph unique much more succinctly — the pictures are the heroes when it comes to this theme. All of its default layouts feature masonry galleries with categories that keeps navigation simple and provides a predictable layout for you to work with.
Overall, Photograph doesn’t pack a lot of extras and frills, but this works in its favor. Its modern design speaks for itself and it makes the theme perfect for personal portfolios, photography agencies, and even wedding parties.
9. Hitchcock
Sometimes, you just want to let your pictures speak for themselves. This means you need a theme that doesn’t draw attention away with any fancy features or visuals. Hitchcock is about as minimalist as themes get.
Right away, you’ll notice the default style doesn’t include anything but a header and links to your social media – the rest is all about your images. This same minimalist approach applies to Hitchcock’s feature set, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
The theme fully supports the Block Editor, which makes customizations easy, and enables you to make small changes to the way your gallery displays. It also includes an infinite scroll option – a highly immersive and engaging feature.
If you’re looking for a minimalist photography theme that can be set up in a matter of minutes, you should definitely give Hitchcock a try!
10. Fullscreen
Graph Paper Press is well known for photography themes and minimalist design tendencies. Fullscreen is another of their offerings and it enables you to showcase your images with a stylish and modern design, and no outlay.
The homepage is presented in a grid-based layout, with a number of featured images along the top of the screen. The design is very visual-heavy with each thumbnail greyed out until rollover and small fonts for any photo captions so this theme works best if you simply want to showcase your photos in a simple way.
In conclusion, Fullscreen has almost everything you’d want in a grid-based photography theme. Font sizes and thumbnail overlay choices aside, this is one you’ll definitely want to take for a test drive – and because of the price tag, doing so is completely risk-free.
11. Fukasawa
If we mention the phrase “minimal photography theme” again in this collection, you’d be forgiven for scrolling onto the next entry. However, Fukasawa demands that you stop and take in everything it offers.
This theme has a minimal masonry-style design, with a left-hand navigation bar similar to the Twenty Fifteen theme. The monochrome color scheme could come across as bland, but the hints of grey (especially for the background) help balance the negative space. Font choices also suit the minimal layout.
The masonry thumbnail layout looks gorgeous, and the individual image pages also do a good job of showcasing your photography. Images are displayed almost full-screen, followed by any corresponding text – just as it should be.
We’ve all heard the phrase “you get what you pay for”, but in Fukasawa’s case, it’s the exception to the rule. Add it to your shortlist, regardless of your budget.
12. Bold Photography
If you specialize in black and white photography, a vibrant portfolio theme just won’t cut it. You need something that oozes elegance in an understated way — enter Bold Photography.
This dark theme will give your art the virtual canvas it deserves, leading the eye towards the more nuanced aspects of your work. Along with a sleek design, you get decent features in the shape of several portfolio options, services sections, and even testimonials.
Even though this theme was developed with photographers in mind, it is also suitable for other multipurpose websites, depending on the application. However, the customization options are limited (although the premium version offers more), so keep this in mind if you want to use this theme for other work.
All in all, Bold Photography is a beautiful, functional photography theme. Its timeless look and solid portfolio features make it a worthy contender for your personal shortlist.
13. Tracks
Some themes specialize in photography, whereas others – such as Tracks – are suited for all types of bloggers, not just those wielding a camera. However, that’s not necessarily a dealbreaker, as long as the functionality is up to snuff.
In Tracks’ case, it definitely is. The layout is pleasant to look at, although the theme does have a darker look. The position of each image on the home page is alternated to break up the monotony, and each image is balanced by a title and excerpt that manage to avoid detracting attention from the image. Click through to an individual post page and you’ll find that each featured image fills the screen, giving way to an oversized uppercase header as you scroll down.
Overall, Tracks’ design is sleek and, although it could use a bit of color, there’s plenty here to convince photobloggers to download a theme with functionality that belies its lack of a price tag.
