How to Build a Photography Portfolio Website

The hardest part of a photography portfolio is not building it — it is deleting. Every image you include sets the floor of what a client expects. Fifteen excellent photos book more work than a hundred good ones.

How many photos should a portfolio have?

Show 15–25 images total, grouped by the work you want more of. If you shoot weddings but want editorial work, lead with editorial even if weddings pay the bills today — portfolios attract what they display. One gallery per genre, six to ten images each, strongest first and last.

How do you keep image quality without a slow site?

• Export at 1920px on the long edge — screens do not need more
• Compress to WebP or high-quality JPEG, targeting under 300KB per image
• Lazy-load everything below the first screen
• Never upload straight-from-Lightroom 8MB files; mobile visitors will leave before they load

Galleries get you shortlisted; the about and contact sections get you hired. Put your face on the site — clients are choosing a person to spend a day with. State your starting price or package range in ₹; it filters enquiries you would decline anyway. The Grain photographer template is built around exactly this structure — full-bleed galleries, an about section, and a contact block — in one HTML file with smooth scroll-driven reveals and no build step. And if you eventually run a studio with a team, the Aster portfolio template scales the same approach to multi-person creative work. Either way, spend your weekend on the edit, not the code — curation is the part no template can do for you.