A photographer’s website: portfolio, packages and booking

A couple getting married looks for a photographer well in advance, while an online store needs product photos right away. Both want to know three things quickly: whether you do this kind of photography, how much it costs and whether you have a free date. If the website doesn’t say this, the client writes to the next person in the Google results.

In this guide I show what to build a photographer’s website from: for a wedding, family or product photographer, or one who does outdoor sessions by the lakes in Masuria, where I work. I also describe the rules you need to know: image consent, GDPR and the license for your photos.

A portfolio split by session type

A common mistake is one gallery where a wedding sits next to a photo of a face cream and a newborn session. A couple doesn’t want to scroll through product photos, and a store owner won’t look for their shots among wedding veils. Each type of session should have a separate subpage with its own title and description, for example:

• Weddings and outdoor sessions: coverage of the whole day and a post-wedding session,
• Family and children: sessions at home, in the studio and outdoors,
• Products: photos on a white background and styled shots for stores,
• Lakeside sessions: in Masuria this is a separate offer, for example a sunset session on a jetty or a boat.

On each subpage, show the 15–30 best photos instead of 200. Also add one complete wedding story, for example 20 photos from a single wedding, so the couple can see the whole day.

Separate subpages also help with Google: a page titled “Wedding photographer Giżycko” has a better chance of appearing for that search than a general “Portfolio” gallery. If a portfolio with contact details is all you need to start with, I build a simple portfolio website from PLN 1,290 net.

Photos that load quickly on a phone

A photographer’s website consists mainly of photos, so they determine its speed. A full-resolution photo weighs several megabytes, and on a phone with a weak signal the client won’t wait for the gallery. What I do on websites like this:

1. Export at web size. For a gallery, 2000 px on the longer side is usually enough, and 600–800 px for thumbnails.
2. WebP or AVIF formats, which usually weigh noticeably less than JPEG at similar quality.
3. Several sizes of one photo (the srcset attribute), so the phone doesn’t download the version meant for a large monitor.
4. Lazy loading (loading="lazy") for photos lower down the page. The first large photo at the top, however, should load right away, because it is usually the largest element on the screen, and Google measures when it appears.
5. Removing location data. Files may contain GPS coordinates, for example of a client’s home after a family session.

I describe how this works in practice in the case study A fast website on a phone: the project photos alone shrank there from 2.9 MB to 0.9 MB. You can check your own website for free with the Check your website tool, which measures mobile speed through Google PageSpeed.

Packages with “from” prices

To a client, “price on request” means an extra message and waiting. Some people won’t send that message. “From” prices on your packages show your price level right on the website and filter out inquiries that wouldn’t have ended in a contract anyway.

A good package says how many hours you work, how many photos the client will get (even approximately), within what time frame, in what form and what costs extra:

Two rules follow from the ustawa o informowaniu o cenach towarów i usług (Poland’s Act on Informing About the Prices of Goods and Services). For private clients, give the amount to be paid, because the price includes VAT if the service is subject to it. And if you sell discounted session vouchers before the holidays, show the lowest price from the 30 days before the reduction next to the reduced price (Art. 4(2)). This obligation also applies to services.

A calendar of free dates and booking with a deposit

A wedding photographer sells, above all, dates. A couple who sees on the website that the Saturday they want is free writes right away. A simple calendar with free and booked days, without clients’ names, is enough. For product photos, a form with the number of products and the deadline works better.

The booking process I suggest for weddings:

1. The client chooses a date and sends the form. The date is “provisionally booked” for 2–3 days and then goes back to the pool of free dates.
2. You send the contract for signing.
3. The client pays the deposit, for example with BLIK (the Polish mobile payment system) through a payment link, and the date changes to booked.

For lakeside outdoor sessions, put in the contract who can reschedule a session because of rain or wind and until when, and keep a few backup dates in the calendar.

I set up a ready-made booking system from PLN 990 net, and a custom one from PLN 4,900 net. I connect online deposit payment from PLN 490 net on an off-the-shelf CMS.

Earnest money (zadatek) vs. advance payment (zaliczka)

Earnest money (zadatek), the type of deposit described in Art. 394 of the Kodeks cywilny (Polish Civil Code), is given when the contract is concluded. Unless the contract provides otherwise, if the client doesn’t perform it, you can withdraw from the contract and keep the earnest money. If you are the one who doesn’t perform the contract, the client can demand twice the earnest money. When the contract is performed, the earnest money counts toward the price. The Civil Code doesn’t define an advance payment (zaliczka) separately, and as a rule it goes back to the client if the contract isn’t performed.

Under § 3 of that article, however, the earnest money has to be returned when the contract is terminated or when it isn’t performed for reasons for which neither party is responsible or for which both are. That’s why you should state the rules for cancellation and rescheduling, including when the photographer is ill, explicitly in the contract. I write more about this difference in the guide A guesthouse website.

One more thing: if you conclude a contract with a private client at a distance, for example through the website or by email, without meeting, as a rule they have 14 days to withdraw without giving a reason (Art. 27 of the ustawa o prawach konsumenta, Poland’s Consumer Rights Act). The exceptions in Art. 38 of that act don’t explicitly list photography services, so before you write that the earnest money is forfeited, have a lawyer check the clauses.

Image rights in your portfolio: consent under Art. 81

Clients’ photos are a photographer’s best advertising, but you can’t show them just because you took them. Art. 81(1) of the ustawa o prawie autorskim i prawach pokrewnych (Polish Act on Copyright and Related Rights) says it outright: disseminating a person’s image requires the permission of the person shown. The exceptions rarely help a photographer:

• Payment for posing. Permission isn’t needed if the person received the agreed payment for posing and didn’t expressly reserve otherwise. With you it’s usually the other way around: the client pays the photographer.
• A widely known person, if the photo was taken in connection with their public functions, for example political, social or professional ones.
• A detail of a whole, such as a gathering, a landscape or a public event. A close-up of a wedding guest’s face can hardly be considered a detail of a whole.

In practice:

• Add consent for the portfolio to the contract as a separate checkbox clause, with its scope: website, social media, print. A client who doesn’t agree gets the same service.
• The couple consents for themselves, not for their guests. Choose shots where guests can’t be recognized, and ask the witnesses separately.
• For family sessions, the parents give consent on behalf of the child. For the portfolio, a shot of hands, from behind or from a distance is often enough.
• If a client later asks you to remove photos from your portfolio, just remove them.

The image of a recognizable person is also personal data within the meaning of the GDPR (Art. 4(1)). So in your privacy information, also describe the portfolio: for what purpose and for how long you show the photos.

Password-protected client galleries

An online gallery from a session is a set of personal data you are responsible for. The GDPR requires appropriate security (Art. 32) and storing data no longer than necessary (Art. 5(1)(e)). In practice:

• a separate gallery and password for each session,
• the link by email and the password by text message, so that intercepting one message doesn’t open the gallery,
• the gallery hidden from Google (the noindex tag) and not linked from the menu,
• an expiry date: in the contract you state how long the gallery works and how long you keep the files,
• full-resolution downloads and choosing favorites for the album.

If the gallery runs on an external service or on your hosting, the provider processes your clients’ data on your behalf. Check whether you have a data processing agreement with them (Art. 28 GDPR) and where their servers are. A cloud folder that opens with just a link is too weak protection for photos from a client’s home or photos of children.

Reviews, contract and contact

Reviews belong next to your packages, because that’s where the client compares prices. Short quotes from Google with a first name and the type of session are enough. Also say whether and how you check that reviews come from clients. This is required by Art. 6(4)(7) of the ustawa o przeciwdziałaniu nieuczciwym praktykom rynkowym (Poland’s Act on Counteracting Unfair Market Practices), which treats services as products. I describe how to ask for reviews in the guide How to get Google reviews.

Contract: besides the date, hours, place and package, include the deadline for delivering the photos, the deposit with the cancellation rules, a replacement in case you are ill, the license, consent for the portfolio as a separate clause and how long the gallery stays online.

Contact means a phone number that can be tapped on a mobile and a short form: type of session, date, place, number of people or products. Under the form, add a link to the information on data processing.

Copyright and the license for the client

The Copyright Act lists photographic works (Art. 1(2)(3)), provided the photo has a creative, individual character. When the contract doesn’t expressly provide for a transfer of rights, you are deemed to grant a license (Art. 65). A license covers only the fields of exploitation expressly listed in the contract (Art. 41(2)). If you don’t state how long it lasts, the act assumes 5 years (Art. 66(1)). A transfer of economic copyright and an exclusive license require written form, otherwise they are invalid (Art. 53 and Art. 67(5)).

For product photos, a store usually wants to use the photos on its website, on Allegro and in ads, so agree on the scope before the session. Have a lawyer read the license clauses.

Summary

A photographer’s website should quickly show what you do, for how much and when you have a free date. Image consent, password-protected galleries and a license in the contract protect both you and your clients. This is not legal advice: I describe the law as of 8 November 2026.

I build a website with a portfolio, a calendar and an editing panel as part of the turnkey business website service, from PLN 4,900 net. If you want to work out the cost for your case, write to me: I will prepare a quote within 24 hours, and new clients get a 20% discount on their first order.