The 10+ Best WordPress Photoblogging Themes
We all know that images speak volumes (roughly a thousand words per picture, right?), so it’s understandable that you may want to use photos to share your life online, rather than writing traditional blog posts. Of course, this means you’ll need a theme that makes your photos (and the life you lead) look amazing, but where to start?
There are many available WordPress themes that make it easy to create, update, and maintain a photoblog, each designed with one thing in mind – placing the focus of your website on the images you use.
In this article, we’ll take a look at ten of the best photoblogging WordPress themes available to make your photoblog stand out, in no particular order. We’ve split our list into free and premium themes, so let’s start with the free themes (we all love free stuff, right?).
1. Pineapple (free)
Looking for a clean and simple theme? Pineapple is just right for you then. This free photography theme was created right here at WPExplorer to make it easy for photogs and creatives to get a website up and running fast.
The clean single-column centered layout makes it easy for your readers to focus on your content. Plus with added support for images, quote, audio and video it’s easy to add your creative work no matter what media format you use. Other great features include built-in header social links, custom logo upload, theme customizer settings and more.
2. Hatch (free)
Currently installed on over 9,000 websites, the Hatch theme by AlienWP is a very popular free theme for photo-centric sites. Although it has few ratings, it’s a good looking theme used by many – so its inclusion here is warranted.
Hatch is simple and minimal, is built on the Hybrid Core framework, and uses built-in WordPress functions for image and gallery management. All in all, Hatch showcases images beautifully.
3. Pictorico (Free)
Pictorico comes to us from Automattic, and was originally released for their WordPress.com users – but now it’s been made available for those of us who self-host WordPress. Currently actively installed on over 5,000 sites, Pictorico has a 4.5-star satisfaction rating, with the majority of reviewers giving the theme top marks.
The beautiful grid-based theme showcases your posts in a wall of images, making it perfect for a photoblogging site. Optionally, you can employ a slider at the top of the page to feature some of your favorite posts.
4. Magnus (Free)
Magnus is brought to you by The Five Themes, and is installed on over 3,000 sites. Only a handful of users have rated it, so take the 4.5-star rating with a grain of salt – but it is widely used and worth a look.
This theme displays your images prominently, using a large grid layout and strong typography to make an impact. If you’re using high quality images, this theme will help you to make the most of them on your photoblogging site.
5. Pronto (Free)
Pronto is a free masonry grid style gallery theme created right here at WPExplorer. With thousands of downloads this theme has a solid track record and is a continual favorite with our readers.
Pronto uses a clean grid layout for the home page, and you can use the built-in support for WordPress galleries and custom shortcodes to create beautiful (and responsive) pages. If you’re using your photoblog to show off photo essays or collections of images, this theme could be ideal for you.
6. Optics (Free)
From the folks at Graph Paper Press, we bring you our last free theme in this list – Optics. Graph Paper Press specialize in themes for photographers, so they know a thing or two about how to create a stunning photoblog.
Optics is a beautiful masonry layout theme with good use of negative space. If you have aims of eventually selling your images, the premium version of Optics integrates seamlessly with WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, and Graph Paper Press’ own Sell Media plugin.
7. Total
The first premium theme on our list is Total. This uber flexible theme features an extended version of the Visual Composer drag & drop page builder so you can create any website you want. Even better there are already tons of great demos you can import to get a head start on your design.
Above we’ve features the Lefty portfolio, Mason masonry grid and TinyFolio simple gallery to show what you can create with Total. On all of these demos images are placed front and center, and added options for your header design, scroll to top button, parallax image support, responsive layout and more create a beautiful user experience.
8. Yin & Yang
Yin & Yang is another premium theme perfectly designed to give you a solid photoblogging experience, with some very nice features. Presented as a creative photoblogging theme for photographers and bloggers alike, this theme is definitely worth running the rule over.
The clean homepage layout, unique menu hover effect, image mouseover effects, and filterable ajaxed portfolio are all standout features of this lovely theme. Overall, this theme will make your photoblog truly stand out, all for an affordable price.
9. Expose Pro
From StudioPress (the makers of the Genesis framework) comes this premium Genesis child theme perfect for showcasing your beautiful images. Expose Pro is a Genesis child theme available for $99.95.
This theme comes with several color schemes, as well as a myriad of customizable options, and the single column home page layout presents your images in a clean and simple manner. If you want a stunning photoblog built upon the Genesis framework, this could be the theme for you.
10. Candid
Candid is a beautiful a beautifully designed photography theme from Array Themes for creating and sharing your work. The theme was designed as a “blank canvas” for creative people to share their content on the web.
The theme comes with simple to use built-in customization options via the live theme Customizer. This makes it easy to switch up colors, fonts, borders, buttons, your logo and more. You can also change your masonry grid column layout (1-3 columns), add infinite scroll and add custom widgets to any post or page. Plus, if you love this theme and want more you can also join the Array theme club for $89 to get access to everything they have to offer.
11. Om
Om is a photoblogging and visual storytelling theme designed to make your content look amazing. This premium theme has a great rating and sales on ThemeForest. Plus they offer a live testing version of their theme so you truly can try before you buy.
Om makes great use of typography, color choices, and stylish details to highlight your images, and the three home page layouts offer a variety of ways to display your content. If you’re looking for a clean magazine feel, this theme may be what you’re looking for.
12. Designer
The final theme in our list is Designer – a professional portfolio theme from ThemeBeans. This premium theme is an excellent example of making a minimal design modern and exciting.
Designer utilizes a fluid parallax layout to slide through your homepage images, with good use of negative space, stylish fonts and plenty of additional customization options via the the Customizer. Designer also integrates with WooCommerce via the included child theme. Other great features includes tiled galleries, lazy loading, customizable portfolio and much more.
If you’ve decided that images can tell your story better than words, photoblogging is a fantastic way to document your life. However, finding the right theme could prove to be difficult if you don’t know where to start.
Due to how quickly it is to get up and running, WordPress is perfect for hosting a photoblog. Furthermore, there are many themes available that can help showcase your images – and from the list of ten we’ve presented above, you should be able to find the perfect theme to create your photoblog.
Do you have your own favorite free or premium photoblogging WordPress theme? Share it with us in the comments section below!
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