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Photographers launch websites for many reasons. Some may view photography as a hobby. Instead of trying to profit from their art, they might set up a website simply to share their creativity.
Others are eager to advertise their services. For example, a photographer might be looking to start (or grow) their own business in a niche area, like weddings or commercial work. Their websites include a selection of their best work around these specific topics. Other photographers are generalists and prefer to show prospective clients an online portfolio featuring photos across a range of styles.
In other cases, photographers use their website to promote goods they're selling. They operate more like a small business and set up a website to sell prints online.
No matter the reason why you're launching a photography website, read on to learn how to design a customized platform that fits your needs.
Determining photography website benefits
A website specifically built to showcase your photography offers multiple benefits:
The site is optimized for photographs. Websites for writers are designed to put words front and center. Their templates may use images only as accents, such as page headers or to accompany a blog post. In contrast, websites for photographers are designed to be image-heavy and emphasize photos. This puts your work in a better light.
Your portfolio is displayed in one place. Posting a photo or two on your social media accounts is a good way to share highlights of recent work. Having your entire photo portfolio in one place online makes it easier to demonstrate the range of your photography skills.
A strong website can help grow business. Using a website as a hub for your photography work is like an online shop or gallery. Consider grouping your work into various projects and show off specific accomplishments. Websites also make it easy to send prospective clients a direct link to your portfolio, and include an online scheduler like Acuity Scheduling where clients can book photoshoots and consultations with you directly.
It can help establish and strengthen your brand. Photographers have distinct styles. Some might be more edgy, while others are more formal or business-oriented. The design of a photography website both establishes and reflects your brand, communicating to customers what they can expect.
Your photos are on a permanent platform that you control. Social media platforms can be inconsistent in the way they deliver posts, which means potential clients may not see your work. Plus, social media platforms may go defunct, which leaves users scrambling to save their content. Not only does a photography website serve as a permanent home for your photos, it’s a space where you have control over how your work is displayed.
Starting a photography website
Before choosing a design, it's helpful to determine why you want to start a photography website. Thinking through your goals in advance will help to shape your approach and strategy.
For example, maybe you want to expand your client base and turn your photography passion project into a full-time job. Or maybe you're a veteran photographer looking to pivot your work into a new area (e.g., moving from commercial work into taking baby photos). Perhaps the marketing strategies you used to build your business haven't given you the results you expected, or you're looking to put your portfolio in one place so it's easily accessible.
Once you've determined what you want to achieve with a photography website, you can develop a design that fits your goals. For example, Acuity Scheduling allows you to add a calendar block on your website to streamline how clients book photoshoots. You can also set up an online store and sell prints directly to customers using Squarespace's ecommerce options.
Choosing photography website design options
A photography website should emphasize images over text. Using a customized template that highlights photos makes it easier to display your work. Hosting platforms like Squarespace offer multiple photography-specific templates that provide different ways of displaying images. Some templates place one large photo on the home page, while others have options to display multiple photos.
Photographers can also customize individual pages to showcase aspects of their work. Squarespace's gallery sections allow you to upload and display your photos in different ways. For example, you could create a slideshow that appears at the top of your website. Or you might display your photos in a grid, so they're easy to scan. Gallery sections can be customized to determine the shape of photos and the number of images displayed, add captions, and change text color. You may even want to add a lightbox option, which positions your images at the forefront of a website.
Squarespace offers an all-in-one portfolio option specifically for artists and photographers. Users can tailor this option to highlight specific projects and integrate a contact page, biography, email newsletter sign-up, and related social media accounts.