Lifestyle Photography Online Portfolio Website

Lifestyle Photography Online Portfolio Website

Mastering the art of lifestyle photography can open many career opportunities. If you’re ready to set up a portfolio to land your next clients, start here.

Lifestyle photography encompasses a large genre of artistically styled photos that capture people in real-life events, milestones, and in the art of the everyday.

The most common examples of lifestyle photography include luxury lifestyle photography, lifestyle newborn photography, personal branding, and family portraits.

We’ll guide you on everything you need to get started in lifestyle photography business and launch your portfolio website to land dream clients.

Starting a Lifestyle Photography Business

When you’re looking to start your own lifestyle photography business, it’s important to research and plan your business strategy before jumping in. Whether you’re a professional photographer or a novice, it’s important to map out your business. Here are some steps to get started:

  1. Develop a business plan. A successful business plan can help outline the details of your lifestyle photography business, your niche, the financial projections, goals and objectives of your business. This is the blueprint for your photography business and allows you to stay on track with your business goals.
  2. Think of a business name. Your photography business name should be memorable. Sometimes, it can be something as simple as your name or it can be something that is special and meaningful to you. If you’d like to create something more special, you can consider using words and adjectives that relate to your photography niche.
  3. Get the right equipment. When you’re capturing lifestyle images or any kind of photographs, it’s important to have the right lenses and camera. If you’re not sure what type of lenses to get, we suggest having both a standard 50mm lens and wide angle. This will allow you to capture your subject and their surroundings, as well as some nice portraits.
  4. Take photographs of your friends and family. If you’re just starting your lifestyle photography business, it could be difficult to get clients. Therefore, it’s always good to ask your friends and family if they can do some photoshoots for you. Take photographs of your own daily life as well, and build a portfolio.
  5. Build an online portfolio website. Now that you have some images and projects, you’ll want a place to display your work. Create an online portfolio website to showcase your projects and let people know about your business.
  6. Market yourself. Now that you’ve built an online portfolio website, promote your lifestyle photography business across social media. Remember to include your website and social media handles on your business card as well.

How To Make A Lifestyle Photography Portfolio

Whether you’re just getting started in your career as a photographer or if you’ve been in the game for a while, clients will always ask to see your work before booking with you, which is why having an updated lifestyle photography portfolio is important for your business.

If just the thought of making a lifestyle photography website intimidates you, don’t worry—we’ll break it up into actionable steps so that you can publish a beautiful, fully functional site within hours.

Step 1: Choosing Your Website Platform

Gone are the days where you need to hire a web designer and coder to create a stunning, customized photography website.

Format is more than a website platform. It’s a community of photographers from all around the world creating an impact with their work.

Format understands that effective photography website design is minimal and elegant. Choose from over 70 easy-to-use, customizable templates that make it easy for you to showcase your best work.

Here are some of the features that make Format the best website platform for your lifestyle photography website:

  • Easy to use
  • Customizable, mobile-first templates
  • Search engine optimization tools to capture new client leads
  • Photo cloud storage for your work
  • Video hosting
  • 24/6 support
  • Built-in blog platform
  • No setup fees or hidden costs

Step 2: Plan Your Photography Website Content

Taking the time to plan your website content before you jump into the platform is a good strategy.

You can add as many pages as your heart desires on your website but make sure it has the following pages:

  1. Home Page
  2. About Page
  3. Portfolio Page
  4. Contact Page

As a photographer, you’re likely more comfortable showcasing your thoughts and ideas through images, but it’s important to include written content. Think of your homepage as the digital storefront of your business. You want to convey your services are in a matter of seconds, or you risk visitors bouncing off the page.

So, if you’re a wedding photographer, newborn baby photographer, social media lifestyle content creator, make it clear on the home page.

Most people struggle to write about themselves for their About Page—but don’t let that stop you—we have a fool-proof guide you can follow to help you write an effective About Me page.

You’d be surprised how often a contact page gets overlooked, but it’s important your website visitors have a place on your website where they can reach out to you directly.

Make it easy for your visitor by including a contact form, where they can make inquiries directly on the page.

Step 3: Choosing Your Portfolio Pieces

Curate your best work to upload on your portfolio, and make sure that it’s in line with the type of work you’d like to be hired for in the future.

It’s more important the images in your portfolio are high-quality than having a large collection of photos. Ask for an honest second opinion from a friend or colleague to help you select photos for your portfolio gallery.

Lifestyle Photography Portfolio Templates: Which One to Use?

Format exists to help creators but their best work forward.

There are over 70 beautiful website design templates to choose from, and it’s easy to switch between themes if you’re unsure of a style you’re after.

We’ll go over some of the best themes for showcasing your lifestyle photography portfolio with examples of professional photographers.

Skyline

Skyline is one of Format’s most popular themes for photographers, featuring a unique horizontal scroll. Whether a visitor is accessing your website on their phone or computer, it’s easy to navigate.

Reel

Reel is another horizontal scrolling theme that makes visitors scroll from side to side like unrolling a filmstrip.

Horizon Left

Horizon Left has an editorial feel. It features a left-hand menu and horizontal scroll for intuitive navigation. It allows your photos to take up more screen space, which results in a more impactful gallery layout.

Lifestyle Photography Portfolio FAQs

Lifestyle photography updates the approach of traditional portrait sessions that take place in studios with professional lighting and backdrops.

Rather than placing your subjects in an unfamiliar environment, the shooting occurs in locations that make sense to their lifestyle and personalities for authentic portraits.

To get the best results in your lifestyle photography, you’ll work closely with your subjects to stage interactions through the portrait sessions for genuine expressions. These photographs look more intimate, dynamic, and candid than studio sessions that feel more controlled and formal.

Examples of lifestyle photography may include:

Newborn photography

Family portraits

Lifestyle product photography

Urban lifestyle photography

Office lifestyle photography

Social media brand photography

Learning the skills of a lifestyle photographer on your own is much more accessible to most people as it doesn’t require a professional studio setting.

The skills you’ll need to learn are:

Your way around camera settings in any given environment

Photo editing software

Posing and directing your subjects for genuine expressions

Organization

Communication

Lifestyle photography is about telling a story in the frame and highlighting the subject’s style and personality.

There are plenty of resources you can turn to online to grasp the basic principles of lifestyle photography from sites like Profoto, Udemy, Coursera, or Youtube—but the best way to learn lifestyle photography is getting out there and shooting. 

If you’re just getting started, collaborate with friends and family who regularly post content on their social media, so you can practice planning your lifestyle shoots, posing your subject, and editing. You can use the work from these sessions in your lifestyle photography portfolio.

When you’re doing a lifestyle photoshoot, it’s important to plan ahead, ensure everyone is comfortable, stay alert for candid moments, and tell a story through your lens.

Plan Your Photoshoots – Good lifestyle photography looks candid—when in reality, there was a lot of careful planning and consideration that goes behind the scene to capture these moments.

Planning your shoots with a storyboard will help you make the best use of your time and help your clients understand your creative process. Get to know your client and scout out your location to do some test shots.

Make Sure Everyone Is Comfortable – As a photographer, it’s your job to make your subjects feel at ease so that you can capture genuine expressions. Talk to your clients throughout the shoot and communicate the type of shot you’re after. Show them the photos after and give specific directions about posing so it helps them create the perfect shot.

Anticipate Every Moment – Unlike studio settings and working with professional models, lifestyle photography is very fast-paced as you’re anticipating candid moments. The most special moments—laughter, glances, and thoughtful expressions—can happen within a matter of seconds. You must stay perceptive to your subjects.

Tell A Story – Lifestyle photography is about telling a story of your subjects in real life. Consider why you’re taking these photos for your clients, what makes this moment special in their lives, and what photographs would make the most sense for telling their story.

Creating a photography portfolio is easy and you can create them using a website builder, like Format. Website builders make it easy for photographers to create an online portfolio website without the knowledge of coding. With hundreds of website templates to choose from, website templates allow you to create a website that is truly yours through endless customization capabilities.

Build A Lifestyle Photography Portfolio With Format

Now that you’ve got the steps in place and examples of lifestyle photographers’ portfolios, it’s time to put what you’ve learned into practice and put your creative work out there for the world to see.

It only takes a few clicks to get your online portfolio up and running! Try Format for free for 14 days and start showcasing your beautiful lifestyle photography.

We can’t wait to see what you create!

Get Started Today. Create My Portfolio.
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