Hopefully you’ve had some time to think about your Photoblog from the first part of this rad theme series.  I want you to have one of the best photoblogs online and truly compliment your photography.  The last thing you should want is your awesome photography displayed against a tattered old mattboard with stains.  People love a pretty internet site; however, pretty doesn’t mean it has to be some crazy flash development that takes 3 minutes to load.  It doesn’t mean you need music to start playing as soon as the page loads. It can be simple, and easy to navigate and get your message across.  I find that WooThemes do an amazing job of giving you an out of the box WordPress theme template.  You can install the theme, activate it and be fine for the rest of your photoblogging life.  With the awesome ongoing special from WooThemes, you’re able to get a free theme when you buy one.  Seriously awesome! It’s the Woo 2 for 1 special and you could actually get both of these themes (aperture and groovy photoblog).  I may have mentioned before that some “Free WordPress Themes” can have that unrefined look or require you to change a lot more to make it your own.  Go Premium and you won’t be upset.  I love them.  I could probably put all of the themes they offer here but, remember, that I am not trying to bombard you with 80 themes.  I want to show you some of the best I’ve found and would seriously consider myself.  Let’s get on with it!

WooThemes

I look at the WooTeam as an industry leader in WordPress theme design.  WooThemes has WordPress themes designed by well known designers on the internet.  This makes it completely awesome, because you know the time and excution of design is there.   These themes don’t even need customization to look hot.   People do customize the themes and you could be inspired by their theme showcase section.  It shows you what can be done with minimal customization and maximum customization.  It’s nice to be able to see websites that are fully using the theme you’re interested in.  I really believe this is what a lot of Theme development sites lack.  As great as a wordpress theme can look, you might have to install and activate it just to see it with your photographs or content.   Woo shows you the awesome and, wait for it, LIVE websites that are utilizing.  I touched on that earlier but it’s one of the best things about WooThemes.  The 2ndbest thing about this team is the support! It’s secondto none in my opinion.  Behind the scenes you’ve got tutorials, faq, and Woo Ninja Forums.   You won’t be left hanging and your Photoblog will be in good hands if you start to try and change things up.  Let’s check out some of my favorite themes from WooThemes for Photoblogging and Photography.

Groovy Photo

The Header Look:

If you click “read More”:

Bit More Info in the Footer:

With respect to this Groovy Photo Theme by WooThemes is a great theme on my list.  It reminds me of the Irresistible – Free theme – but more of how I always wanted it.  I love the lager photograph that is showcased on the theme.   I love that it is separated from the previous post but you still have the option to list a few photos on the main page and someone viewing your site can see a few photos at once.  I know the goal of your page should be that people spend more time on your site and click to other pages, but sometimes it’s nice to see 2 or 3 photos on one page.   This template also has a huge number of different options for colours, 17 to be exact.  The probability of you not finding something out of the box, is slim.  But if you don’t, it’s seriously easy to change the background and WooThemes support will have the answer already there for you.  Any type of basic modifications can easily be found in their forums; however if you want some major changes you may have to hire a designer or WooNinja to go to work for you.  In my eyes, it’s not necessary.
Groovy Photo is a sweet photoblog theme and your photography is the most important part of your site here.  I love that there is a focus on this.  The great thing too is that you get a pretty cool footer too.  This can allow you to start to monetize your photoblog and provide some other information on each page that could interest your viewers.  This is definitely on my list of themes to get soon when I buy a developer subscription.   One extra bit of information to consider here is that you’ll feel more confident directing people to your photoblog.  People take notice with great photography but also great design.

Aperture

This is theme is a beast in my eyes.  Why? To me it’s got a lot of potential for a photography business or a photoblog.  You’re getting a magazine style layout with a seperation between blog and photography.  You could technically run a photoblog and content based blog at the same time here.  WooThemes calls this “Dedicated blog category template and home page module.”  Remember when I mentioned to think about what you want your photoblog to be like?  This is where you might look if you wrote down that you want a good theme template for Images but also content if you decide to write asides and things as well.  It could be used as your own personal blog too and not just related to some type of photography.

The back end of the theme, or the admin panel, for changing some options and setting up you categories is insanely easy and far from overwhelming.  The best part of this admin is that you can set up the theme, your blog looks freaking awesome already and you’re not spending all your time as a designer now.  It’s done and you’re back out taking more amazing photographs that you’re going to show off later.  You can see the back end image right from WooThemes directly here. It’s seriously never been easier to change up themes and looks to your site and have a much more professional look to your photoblog.  Here are 2 examples of the theme and there are a bunch more over on WooThemes.

Default Template:

Light Grunge Template:

Exposure

Still unreleased but I guess it is coming soon.  WooThemes releases these little “teaser” posts which help to get you amped up and keep you in the loop.  This is great to help keep current and not let your blog become outdated.

This is a theme that I plan on getting once it is released.  My theme on Urban HDR has been a filler theme until I found the Photoblog Theme that I will be happy with for a long time to come. It’s a Free WooTheme called Irresistible and it allowed me to utilize the admin settings and see what it was like to use one of their themes.  So, back to Evolution, When I saw the screen shots previewing the theme, I loved it. It’s super simple, clean, and I know it will be easily customizable.  A description right from WooThemes themself is:

We’ve decided to not include a separate written blog in the theme, as we felt that the audience that this theme is aimed at, will be talking via their photos. Obviously every photo can include some text / multimedia content, but the theme won’t have two sections in terms of photos & blog.

This describes what a photoblog is all about: Let the photos do the talking.  The slider at the bottom seems like a pretty cool way to browse other photographs too.  Patience is a virtue here! It’s coming. If you’re unsure about paying for a theme, try out one of Woo Free Themes and check out the back-end admin.  See how easy everything is and imagine amazing support for questions if you have them.  If you check out the teaser post on their blog, you’ll see a great number of comments (more than 75) about this coming theme.  Adii, WooFounder, is saying that Exposure is going to be the most flexible photoblogging theme ever.  I cannot wait! I’m looking to see if they are willing to help my readers and loyal people with a coupon code or something better in the future.  More news on that at some point in the future I hope!

Anyways, I hope my love for WooThemes and WordPress has come across and you see the awesome potential for kicking ass in your photoblogging projects.  I’m absolutely in love with it and in the next couple days you’ll find my 3rd part to this series.  It’s going to have a bunch of quality looking photography and photoblog themes ranging from free to premium and even something you might not have considered for a photoblog.

I’ve finished off Part 3 of this series and I think you should check it out for consideration too! Follow this link to learn about more WordPress Themes for Photoblogs and Photography that aren’t boring!