I recently researched the best photography WordPress themes for a client, and since 2013 is the year that mobile responsive designs are set to explode, I’m trying to persuade all my clients that responsive WordPress themes are the way to go.
And it’s usually not a very difficult sell.
One website that looks amazing on PC’s, laptops, tablets and mobiles, as well as offering numerous SEO benefits; or two or more websites that require double the effort to maintain, and a lot more work to rank well in the search engines. It’s a hard choice isn’t it!
WordPress themes are ideal for photographers and other small business owners since they allow you to easily build a website without being a HTML/CSS expert, and no longer do you need to pay the expensive rates of a professional web designer.
Originally I wanted to include both free and premium themes in this showcase. However, after looking through the free responsive photography themes available on WordPress.org – it soon became apparent that they are all well below par. But for a professional photographer, spending a few dollars on a beautiful WordPress theme that reflects the brilliance of their photos, is really a no brainer and a wise investment.
For all themes I’ve checked the developers reviews, feedback and support. The last thing you want to do is spend money on a theme that looks good, but the most simple changes are a complete nightmare because the developer has no time or desire to help you. Or an update to WordPress renders it useless.
I hope to continuously add to this post as I discover more eye-catching photography themes, so if you know of any more themes out there that I’ve not included, please do let me know in the comments below. Or perhaps you have used one or two of the below themes already, in which case your feedback whether positive or negative would be much appreciated.
1. Origin Responsive WordPress Theme – DEMO
Origin is a beautiful grid-based theme from Elegant Themes. It’s fully localised for easy translation, whilst the theme customiser gives you full control over the themes colours. The gallery template means that it’s never been easier to show off your best photos. And of course, this WordPress theme looks great on every device from your PC to your tablet and right down to your mobile phone.
2. Hypershot Responsive WordPress Theme – DEMO
With two different colour versions (light/dark), multiple homepage templates, password protected albums and galleries, and social integration; this is truly one of the best WordPress themes for photographers. And of course, it’s fully responsive too and looks incredible on any sized screen.
3. Spaceship Minimalist Responsive WordPress Theme – DEMO
A stunning theme that includes full translations for 6 different languages. You’ll also find multiple homepage options, fullscreen image slideshows, 13+ custom widgets, social integration, extensive built-in documentation, and of course it’s also fully responsive.
4. Invictus Responsive WordPress Theme – DEMO
A powerful theme that includes both image and video support. Invictus comes out-of-the-box with two diffrent Colour Schemes (Black & White), easy to use shortcodes and theme options, a custom post type for your photos, a colour picker tool for unlimited colour choice, password protected pages, plus a very intuitive admin interface.
5. Parallax Responsive WordPress Theme – DEMO
Parallax is a clean one-page theme with a superb image slider and tons of options and features. Colour choices are unlimited and there are over 640 font choices. Image galleries feature social sharing buttons and custom post types and shortcodes mean that administration is a breeze. Being a responsive theme, it also looks great across a large number of devices.
6. Socha Responsive WordPress Theme – DEMO
A stunning photography theme for people who like to travel around the world and share their adventures online. With 6 different colour designs, unlimited fonts, and translations into English, Russian, Romanian, Spanish, German, French and Italian; it should comfortably suit the needs of many travel writers.
7. Tripod Responsive WordPress Theme – DEMO
Tripod is one of the best responsive photography WordPress Themes aimed solely at wedding photographers. Beautifully elegant with a very clean design, this is certainly a theme that will do justice to any happy couples wedding photos. It features multiple layouts, a drag and drop builder, social integration, as well as many more superb features.
8. Modelish Responsive WordPress Theme – DEMO
Modelish is a unique fully responsive WordPress theme for artwork or photography, but it can easily be customised for just about any business. It features stunning retina display support, and is fully customisable so you can choose your favorite colors, fonts and style preferences. An easy to use admin panel means that changes and updates are a doddle.
9. Chocolate Responsive WordPress Theme – DEMO
Chocolate is a refined and elegant theme with incredibly rich functionality. Created to serve as a showcase for your work, your visitors will most certainly not be disappointed. A unique 3D slider and a full width showcase slider for the homepage ensures your portfolio cannot possible be missed. There is also the option to password protect portfolio projects and photo albums. The theme is also fully responsive.
10. Slash Responsive WordPress Theme – DEMO
Slash is a premium photo gallery with a modern design. With numerous homepage options you can select either a video homepage, slideshow or static image template. Customisation is simply point and click, so you can easily create the exact look and feel that you desire for your website.
11. Imaginem Responsive WordPress Theme – DEMO
The RSW Theme from Imaginem is a powerful theme for photographers and creative artists. It features both light and dark theme options with multi-colour customisation using simple colour pickers. There is also support for gallery slideshows and fullscreen video playback. PSDs are also included for easy customisation.
12. JPhotolio Responsive Wedding WordPress Theme – DEMO
JPhotolio is one of the best premium responsive WordPress themes for wedding photographers. It includes both a white and black skin, so you can easily adapt it to other types of photography such as model, landscape or documentary photography. The Password protected portfolio and download items allow you to securely share your clients photos. There are many more features too, far too many to list here.
13. DK Responsive WordPress Theme – DEMO
DK is a premium responsive theme that features 4 different homepage styles, a fullscreen gallery slideshow, 10 different page templates, password protected galleries and extensive customisation options.
14. Feather Responsive WordPress Theme – DEMO
Feather is a eye-catching theme that looks great on any device that you choose to view it on. With multiple frontpage layouts, unlimited colour options and social integration, it covers all of the bases.
15. Glisseo Responsive WordPress Theme – DEMO
Glisseo is a smashing WordPress theme suitable for business, portfolio or personal websites. Fully responsive it will look good on whichever device you choose to view it on. The gallery slider features mobile gestures, there’s also a lightbox option, multiple blog layouts options and a one-page video showcase.
16. Vernissage Responsive WordPress Theme – DEMO
Vernissage is a powerful photography WordPress theme that features a fullscreen slider (3 types), Skin manager, unlimited colours, flexible layout, audio background whilst viewing images, fullscreen Video background, easy gallery management and much more.
17. Salient Responsive WordPress Theme – DEMO
Salient is an absolutely stunning mobile responsive theme that manages to look amazing, and at the same time remains very easy to work with. A built in love system allows visitors to vote on your photos, and multiple custom page layouts and custom widgets create a very intuitive working environment.
18. Core Responsive WordPress Theme – DEMO
Core is a beautifully minimalist theme that features three different homepage styles, fullscreen slideshow, custom widgets, social media integration and a modern responsive design.
19. Expression Responsive WordPress Theme – DEMO
Expression is a very powerful and elegant WordPress theme that is powered my an advanced customisation panel. You can easily change fonts and colours, there are three different types of image slider, and retina display support means that your website will look great even on high resolution devices.
20. Full Frame Responsive WordPress Theme – DEMO
Full Frame is an impressive WordPress theme that supports multiple post formats including: image, gallery and video. It also works seamlessly across PCs, laptops and mobile devices.
21. Modern Portfolio Responsive WordPress Theme – DEMO
Modern Portfolio is a minimalist theme with a mobile-responsive layout. Running on the excellent Genesis Framework (which my own website runs on), the theme offers custom backgrounds, menus, featured images and many more options to ensure your portfolio is presented in the best possible light.
22. Photogra Responsive WordPress Theme – DEMO
Photogra is crisp and clean theme for today’s modern artist. Compatible with almost any device (desktop, tablet, mobile) you no longer need to worry that your visitors will not be impressed. A fullscreen slider supports multiple transition effects, and you can easily customise both colours and fonts till your heart’s content.
23. Wildfire Responsive WordPress Theme – DEMO
Wildfire is a gorgeous photography theme with retina support for stunning graphics. And it’s certainly not short on features; with unlimited colour schemes, responsive design, video support and infinite scrolling, it ticks all the right boxes.
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