A photography portfolio that stays sharp and still loads on a phone

Forest City Green

A photographer's site has two needs that pull against each other: big, sharp images, and pages that load quickly on a phone. Both are possible when each image is exported at the right sizes for each screen. Beyond that, build one portfolio page per genre you sell, and leave client galleries on the proofing service you already use.

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How a portfolio stays sharp and still loads fast on a phone

On a photographer's site, the hero photo is usually what Google's Largest Contentful Paint measure is timing: in 2025 the largest element in view was an image on 76% of mobile pages. The usual reason a portfolio is slow is one large export sent to every screen, so a phone downloads a desktop-sized photo to show it a few inches wide. If you already have a site, the free audit runs Google Lighthouse on mobile and desktop and checks your Core Web Vitals, so you can see how your hero photo holds up before deciding anything.

The fix is standard HTML rather than a plugin. I send each photo as AVIF, around half the size of a JPEG that looks the same, with a WebP copy for any browser that cannot read AVIF. AVIF has one trade-off: nothing shows until the whole file has arrived. The files are small enough that this rarely matters, but for a large hero photo it is one more reason to send each screen the right size.

Northlight Photographic, the photography sample on the examples page, is an invented studio rather than a client, but its code is real: every photo is AVIF with a WebP fallback, the lead photo comes in widths of 640, 960 and 1,400 pixels, it is the only image loaded straight away, and the rest wait until the visitor scrolls near them. Beyond the formats, a portfolio that stays fast needs:

Several widths of every photo, so the browser downloads the one that fits the screen instead of the desktop version
The first photo loaded straight away and marked as the priority, and photos further down loaded only as the visitor scrolls near them
Width and height written into the page, so the gallery keeps its shape instead of jumping as photos arrive
Real image elements rather than CSS background slideshows, because Google does not index CSS background images
Alt text that describes the scene and filenames that say what the photo shows, both of which Google reads to understand a picture

What goes on each genre page, and which genres to build

Each genre page gets a tight edit of your strongest frames rather than everything you have shot, a “starting at” price or a summary of what a collection includes, and a short inquiry form asking for the three things you need to quote: date, location and type of shoot.

Name the real London places you shoot on the page and in its captions; I take those from you on the call and never invent them. Your Google Business Profile has its own rule about whether to show your address when you shoot on location, and the answer on ranking higher on Google Maps, linked below, covers it.

Only build pages for the work you want more of. A page for a genre you are trying to stop taking will bring you more of it, while each genre you do want gets a page that a search such as “newborn photographer London Ontario” can land on. The ones I would usually split out, if you shoot them:

Weddings, with a date-availability question at the top of the inquiry form
Families and newborns
Headshots and corporate portraits
Real estate and interiors
Events

Client galleries belong on a proofing service, not on your website

Delivery and proofing are a different job from winning the booking, and services built for photographers already do it. Pixieset, for example, offers password-protected galleries with download PINs, watermarks, client favourites and comments for proofing, a choice of download sizes, and print sales from the gallery. Rebuilding that inside a portfolio site would cost you more and work worse.

So I link your site to whichever gallery service you already use, under a plain “Client galleries” link, and leave the galleries there. Private galleries never sit on the public site. There is a practical reason too: static hosting on Cloudflare caps each file at 25 MiB, which is plenty for a web-sized photo and not meant for full-resolution deliveries.

When to keep your Pixieset site instead of paying for a build

Pixieset sells websites as well as galleries. Its free Website plan allows 15 pages and 100 photos, with a Pixieset banner and no custom domain. Plus costs CA$16 a month billed yearly or CA$20 month to month, and Pro costs CA$24 or CA$32 on the same terms. The website also comes in the Pixieset Suite alongside Client Gallery, so if you already pay for the Suite, you already have a website.

Stay where you are if you post new work every week and want to do it yourself, or if the site your plan includes already loads fast on a phone; the free audit will tell you whether it does. A one-time build does not beat a tool you use every day, and I would rather say that on the call than sell you a site you would have to email me to change.

A build here earns its price if you want genre pages written to be found, a hero photo that loads fast, and no monthly fee unless you choose a Care plan. After the one-time build the only running cost is the domain at $15 to $25 a year, and you own the domain and the site files.

Credit, copyright and location data in your photos online

Google Images can show you as the creator, with a credit line, copyright notice and licence details, when the page supplies them as structured data or the file carries IPTC metadata. Making web copies can strip that embedded data: the sharp image library, for one, removes all metadata unless told to keep it. That makes structured data on the page the dependable route. The stripping has an upside, too: any location your camera or phone recorded in the file is not published along with a client's photos.

By default in Canada you own the copyright in photos commissioned from you on or after November 7, 2012; older commissions keep the old rule, which favoured whoever ordered and paid for them. The main exceptions are photos taken in the course of a job as someone's employee, and copyright you signed over, which the Act only allows in writing.

An individual who commissioned and paid for photos for personal purposes can still use them for private or non-commercial purposes unless you agreed otherwise, so put your usage terms in plain words on the site. That is the Act as written, not legal advice.

Pixieset's Website plans next to a one-time build, in Canadian dollars

Option	What it costs and what you get
Pixieset Website Free	Free. 15 pages and 100 photos, a Pixieset banner, no custom domain
Pixieset Website Plus	CA$16 a month billed yearly, or CA$20 month to month. Unlimited pages and photos, your own domain, no banner
Pixieset Website Pro	CA$24 a month billed yearly, or CA$32 month to month. Everything in Plus, with advanced theme and code customization and no Pixieset badge
Pixieset Suite	From CA$35 a month. The website bundled with Client Gallery, Studio Manager, Store and the mobile gallery app
YXU Studio build	$499 to $1,399 once. Free hosting, the domain at $15 to $25 a year, and you own the domain and the files
YXU Studio Care plan	Optional, $49 a month for up to 30 minutes of edits, cancel anytime

Questions people ask

How much does a photography website cost?

A one-time $499 to $1,399 in Canadian dollars. The $899 Standard build covers four to six pages, such as a homepage, two or three genre pages, an about page with your pricing, and contact. Five genres plus the basics means the $1,399 Pro build. Hosting is free, the domain costs $15 to $25 a year, and you own the domain and the files.

Will compressing my photos make them look worse?

Not at the size they appear on screen, though the files are smaller and not identical to your exports. Watch colour: the sharp image library converts web copies to sRGB by default, so check how your photos look in sRGB before sending them. The website only holds web-sized copies; your original files stay with you.

Can I keep using Pixieset or my current gallery service?

Yes, and I would keep it. A gallery service handles passwords, download PINs, favourites, download sizes and print sales, which a portfolio site should not try to copy. I add a clear “Client galleries” link to it, and the website keeps its own job: turning a visitor into an inquiry.

Should I put my prices on my photography website?

Usually yes, as a “starting at” price or a summary of what a collection includes on each genre page. It answers the question a visitor would otherwise email to ask, and people whose budget is far off stop before the form rather than after your reply. If every quote is genuinely custom, say what changes the price instead.

Can I update my portfolio after launch?

Yes. The Care plan at $49 a month covers up to 30 minutes of edits, enough for a handful of new photos or a price change, done within two business days, and you can cancel anytime. Replacing a whole gallery may need the hour on Care Plus at $99. If whole galleries change every month, a builder you edit yourself may suit you better.