Looking for one of the best free photography WordPress themes? A WordPress theme built specifically for photography businesses will let you design your website fast and help you grow your business.
In this post, we’ll share 24 of the best free photography WordPress themes. These themes will help you build a responsive WordPress website with an attractive design.
Free Photography WordPress Themes
- Gutenify Photography
- Freedom
- Hitchcock
- PhotoBook
- Fotografie
- Pixgraphy
- Photograph
- Bold Photography
- Photo Perfect
- VW Photography
- Kadence
- Insipro
- Fifteen
- The Thinker Lite
- Signify Photography
- Fukasawa
- fPhotography
- Illustratr
- Masonry Grid
- Neve
- OceanWP
- PhotoFocus
- Pinnacle
- Rife
- Rishi
1. Gutenify Photography
Photography sites should be breath-taking and engaging for users. Gutenify Photography is one theme that helps you achieve these goals.
This multipurpose and modern block-based theme comes with several easy-to-use features. You can create a boxed or wide layout with just a click and customize almost every aspect of the pre-built features. This theme is also fully responsive and retina-ready, which will make your site look great on all kinds of modern devices.
Great websites also make the most of animations. With Gutenifty, images load as visitors scroll. That means your photograms neatly slide into view, adding a touch of motion to your still photography.
What we like: The best part? It’s completely free.
2.Freedom
Freedom is a clean and minimal WordPress theme with a nice layout that is best suited for a photography site. Though this is a free theme, it has a powerful theme options panel that gives you customization control over several features. The tiled layout provides a great visual as you scroll through the homepage, and there are multiple page layouts to choose from.
Freedom is a great theme if you’re looking to create a photo blog where you can incorporate your writing. You can also highlight your working style, your pricing, and the types of events you shoot. If you’re looking to build a portfolio that mostly shows images, I recommend checking out a different theme on this list.
What we like: This is both a ready-to-use theme and a customizable one.
3.Hitchcock
Hitchcock is another free WordPress theme that falls into the minimalist category. You can build a grid of photos, allowing your imagery to pop. There’s no need for your work to fight with attention with other cluttered design elements on the pace. Hitchcock shows that simplicity works wonders.
The JetPack infinite scroll means you won‘t have to worry about slow page speed. That’s especially important when you’re showing off photos and files that typically are larger. You can even set your best image as the background of your site.
Best for: Photographers who blog. If you’re a photographer or photojournalist, you can use the blog feature to give more context to your work. There are ways to write posts so you can tell the story behind the photo.
4. PhotoBook
With PhotoBook, you get exactly what you’d expect from the name in the best way possible. You can load images to a grid. When visitors hover over one of your photos, a title slides into view, along with a button they can click to see more details. You can use this function to describe your picture or to offer more information to potential buyers.
This theme also has a full-width slider for your most recent premium content and an attractive grid gallery underneath. The minimalist scroll bar makes the website look even more attractive. This is especially true when paired with the minimalist hamburger icon in place of a full menu.
What we like: PhotoBook is made with Bootstrap, and it’s guaranteed to look great on any device. You can get the benefits of a fully responsive site without the headache.
5. Fotografie
This WordPress photography theme doesn’t use a typical homepage layout. Its centered menu bar breaks up the featured hero image at the top with edge-to-edge thumbnails below. With a modern typeface built in and elegant icons, this photography theme is perfect for putting your work front and center with no distractions.
This is another theme that comes with built-in blogging elements. You can write titles and feature the date. When people click on the photo, they’ll have the opportunity to read your full blog post.
What we like: The unique layout of the homepage means that your site will stand out. This is especially helpful in editorial and wedding photography, where you want to make a great first impression with clients.
6. Pixgraphy
Pixgraphy comes with the standard benefits of most photography themes on WordPress. You have a photo grid below the fold and menus that let you categorize your work. However, Pixgraphy’s extra bells and whistles make the theme great.
You can set an image carousel in the header section, showing off multiple of your best photographs. There are icons for your social media icons and contact information. This helps keep your external links orderly. There’s also a search function, so people can search keywords to browse your work.
What we like: Pixgraphy supports plugins like WooCommerce and Contact Form 7. This makes it easy to sell your work, and let potential clients inquire about your availability.
7. Photograph
I know you want to get back to taking photos. Spending time agonizing over your website pulls you away from your craft. That’s why I love Photograph. You can easily import the theme with just one click.
There are several pages already baked into the theme. There’s no need to struggle to create a contact or gallery page. The templates are already there for you to customize.
What we like: The menu alone is stunning. Once you click on the hamburger icon, the menu pops out via animation. An overlay appears across the rest of the website. Plus, there’s even an in-menu gallery.
8. Bold Photography
If you need a WordPress theme that conveys a striking feeling, think no further than the Bold Photography theme. Bold Photography gives your website an intense and bossy feel. It also comes with sections for your portfolio, services, hero content, hover animation, and imagery.
An image is worth a thousand words. However, the text on your site is essential to explain who you are, what you specialize in, and how to get in touch with you. Bold Photography offers great typography options so you can create text that augments your message.
What we like: Bold Photography offers an editorial approach to displaying your work. If you focus on magazines, modeling, or other creative photoshoots, this theme can seamlessly match your aesthetic.
9. Photo Perfect
As a photographer, you likely take more than one type of image. Sometimes you shoot weddings. Other times, you’re capturing the natural beauty of the great outdoors. The ability to showcase your varied focus areas makes Photo Perfect well … perfect.
You can craft different photo categories (almost like albums) for your website visitors to sort through. You can display these categories on the front page, like a gallery. The light-box gallery display on click also provides a touch of class to each image.
What we like: This WordPress theme adds a dark overlay over thumbnail images when you hover, which makes the text stand out.
10. VW Photography
Maybe you want more pizzazz with your WordPress theme. VW Photography screams fun. Its out-of-the-box color scheme features playful pinks and purples. Images and blog posts slide in with stunning animation as visitors scroll.
There are banners and slides that can help you decorate your site. This is also a great space to show off your best work. Plus, there’s lots of room for customization, so you can make the theme match your brand with ease.
What we like: You can prominently feature your social media so people can keep track of where they can find your work.
11. Kadence
Kadence is a responsive multipurpose theme that’s popular for its lightweight, customization options, and an abundance of features on its free version. Although Kadence offers paid themes, its free themes have more design and customization features than what’s found with most free themes.
For instance, it offers lots of flexibility in layout customization — users can modify the header, footer, and page layouts. It also supports sticky headers. Plus, this WordPress theme offers dozens of free starter sites, some of which are designed for photographers.
What we like: Kadence is compatible with popular plugins such as Gutenberg, Beaver Builder, Elementor, and WooCommerce.
12. Insipro
Insipro touts itself as a professional and lightweight photo- and video-focused WordPress theme. It lives up to this claim. The overall design of this photography WordPress theme is an excellent blend of simplicity and style. Its homepage features a full-screen hero section that supports YouTube, Vimeo, and self-hosted videos.
The WordPress theme is compatible with WooCommerce, Elementor, Beaver Builder, and other popular WordPress plugins. Unfortunately, the free version of Insipro only has one demo site. Several of its popular features are available to premium users only. Still, it’s a good theme for creators on a shoestring budget.
What we like: The hero section can support video or show off your most striking photos.
13. Fifteen
Fifteen is a highly customizable, fully responsive WordPress theme with several premium-quality features. It offers a beautiful three-column grid layout for home and archive pages. It also supports custom animations, widgets, full-width layouts, and more.
You can set a background image or different background images for each section of your site. This allows you to prominently show off some of your best work.
What we like: This theme is fully responsive, guaranteeing an excellent viewer experience no matter which device is used.
14. The Thinker Lite
The Thinker Lite is a simple and beautiful WordPress theme for personal blogs. It can be a nice design option for photo bloggers as well. This theme offers you brilliant typography and a clean layout so that photos can speak for themselves. There’s a solid balance between writing and photos for those who love to do both.
Best for: Bloggers. This theme allows you to show off your writing with your photography. If you’re looking to showcase one element more prominently than the other, you should choose a different theme
15. Signify Photography
Signify Photography is a free WordPress photography theme that has many quality features. Photographers, photo bloggers, and graphic designers may find this theme incredibly useful.
The free version of Signify Photography lets you customize colors, header media, and more. If you have experience coding, you can even access the full CSS. This will allow you to make more specific, stylized changes to your site.
Best for: Those with a shop. You can integrate WooCommerce into Signify Photography, allowing you to sell prints or digital copies of your work.
16. Fukasawa
Fukasawa is an ultra-simple and masonry-style blog theme for photographers. It's a responsive and retina-ready WordPress theme with custom widgets and different post formats.
I love how the menu appears on the left side of the screen. As you scroll, you’ll always have access to navigation. This is also reminiscent of a blog while keeping the images you create front and center.
Best for: Photographers who want to create a portfolio. This theme almost looks like your pictures are hanging in a gallery. This is the perfect place to showcase your best work.
17. fPhotography
fPhotography is a great theme if you’re looking to create a website and sell your photography services. You can feature your best work in the hero section, which allows you to include multiple photographs in a carousel. There’s also a calendar option so people can see your availability.
I like the animations used throughout fPhotography. Sections of the site bounce into view, adding extra dynamic energy.
What we like: fPhotography is a fully responsive WordPress theme that is specially created for photography websites. The homepage slider offers a great way to showcase your premium content front and center.
18. Illustratr
Illustratr is a photography portfolio WordPress theme with minimalistic design and a super clean interface. Its default homepage includes a header, navigation menu, and a bit of text. And that’s it! However, it provides a “Portfolio Page Template,” which enables you to set your portfolio page as your homepage.
The portfolio page showcases your best work using an attractive grid-style layout. Adding headings and subheadings to featured images is great for capturing a visitor's attention. They help you tell the story behind each featured image or entice your visitors to click and read more.
What we like: This theme includes attractive animations and social icons. These help to deepen your viewers’ engagement and increase your social reach.
19. Masonry Grid
Masonry Grid is another Pinterest-style WordPress theme on this list. The header section displays a carousel of your popular blog posts. This lets you showcase several popular blog posts in one sweep.
What follows is a three-column grid of your other posts, with just enough white space between each column to keep the interface clean and uncluttered. This grid style appeals to photographers who want to maximize space on the page and display as much content as possible for visitors.
What we like: Masonry Grid is responsive and has social media integration features.
20. Neve
Neve is a popular, multipurpose, and responsive WordPress theme. Its mobile-first approach guarantees visitors a seamless site experience regardless of their browsing device.
Neve is lightweight and fast-loading. It works well with Gutenberg, Elementor, Beaver Builder, and other popular page builders. And it’s compatible with WooCommerce, which is great if you aim to create a web shop.
What we like: This theme offers 17 free starter sites, with one dedicated to photography. You can have a website running in minutes by customizing any of the templates.
21. OceanWP
OceanWP is another popular and top-rated multipurpose theme. This WordPress theme has been around for a while, boasting over 700,000+ active installations. It's a great choice if you’re looking for a theme with a long-standing reputation of reliability.
OceanWP offers 15 free pre-made website templates, including one photography template. You can access more premade photography templates by upgrading to the premium version.
OceanWP is lightweight, responsive, highly customizable, and beginner-friendly. It’s also WooCommerce compatible and works with most page builders, including Beaver Builder, Brizy, and Elementor.
What we like: This trusted theme, along with the photography template, is bound to lead to successful website building.
22. PhotoFocus
PhotoFocus is a minimal and super-stylish WordPress theme that’s designed specifically for photographers, photo bloggers, and other image-heavy blogs. It offers six free responsive, fast-loading, and SEO-optimized pre-made website templates.
The homepage of each template features a full-screen hero section that enables you to make a powerful first impression on visitors. The templates also provide options for a featured page slider, testimonials section, and an elegant portfolio you could use on your homepage.
What we like: PhotoFocus provides prompt support via its support forum, even to customers using its free themes.
23. Pinnacle
Pinnacle is a versatile WordPress theme that’s suitable for photo bloggers. It comes with a full-width header on the homepage, followed by a preview of the latest posts. The default display format for the posts is a three-column grid, but you can display it in list format, too.
The Pinnacle template also includes gallery sections for displaying images in a slider, carousel, or three-column format. This WordPress theme features full WooCommerce and social media integration.
What we like: Pinnacle is a classic theme. In other words, it supports the Gutenberg block editor but wasn’t built for the block editor.
24. Rife
Rife is a clean and attractive WordPress theme for photographers. It includes seven free demo sites that’ll showcase your work attractively.
One of its distinctive features is the built-in typing effect animation — it types out words on your homepage, giving visitors an immersive browsing experience. It also features a video slider, which adds an exciting and attention-grabbing element to your homepage by featuring videos in the header.
What we like: The theme supports drag-and-drop page builders such as Elementor and WP Bakery. It’s also WooCommerce compatible, translation-ready, and SEO-optimized.
25. Rishi Theme
The Rishi Theme can be an optimal theme for photographers. Focusing on speed and customization, it allows photographers to create an online presence without sacrificing performance.
You can customize your website’s layout from boxed, unboxed, or content-boxed layouts. This allows you to configure space to add your photographs in whatever way you please. Additionally, you can use Elementor and Gutenberg’s drag-and-drop feature to customize your website easily.
Finally, Rishi employs Smart Lazy Loading for Images, ensuring your website remains smooth and responsive, even when showcasing high-resolution photographs.
What we like: Rishi Theme has a special demo photography theme in both light and dark modes among its 90+ demo templates.
Once you choose your WordPress theme, there's no limit to how you can showcase your work, attract visitors to your site, and generate more revenue from online marketing.
Editor's note: We originally published this post in January 2020 and we’ve updated it for comprehensiveness.
