Luma Noir: A Minimalist Portfolio Template for Photographers

Luma Noir is a minimalist, cinematic portfolio template built for photographers who shoot with intention. Designed and developed for the Framer Marketplace, it serves as a visual home for creatives who use light, shadow, and stillness to tell honest stories.

This wasn’t just a layout project it was a chance to build a brand that feels like a slow exhale. Every design choice was made to support quiet storytelling and intentional photography.

From the start, I knew I didn’t want to design “just another clean portfolio.” Luma Noir is inspired by:

Golden hour stillness

Muted tones and deep blacks

The emotional power of minimalism

Photojournalistic storytelling

The name Luma Noir — meaning “light” and “dark” — captures the tension that photographers live in: revealing truth through contrast.

The design follows a black background to allow images to take center stage, while accents of mist white, muted purples, and soft typography create a calm, refined atmosphere.

Typography: Soft, modern sans-serif for body; delicate serif or wide tracking for titles

Spacing: Generous white space to create visual breathing room between sections and imagery

Motion: Subtle scroll-triggered reveals for a cinematic feel

The template is clean, CMS-powered, and fully responsive. Here’s what’s inside:

✅ Homepage

Full-screen hero with tagline and intro

Featured work carousel or stacked layout

Scroll-driven sections that introduce the brand's tone

✅ Works Page

Grid layout powered by Framer CMS

Projects auto-populated with thumbnail, title, and category

Filterable or easily expandable for large portfolios

✅ Project Detail Pages

Flexible structure for each story: image blocks, written context, location, tools used

Optional full-bleed image sections and scroll reveals

Built for storytelling, not just showing

✅ About Page

Personal narrative (the “journey stories”) broken into short, scroll-friendly sections

Light use of motion to keep it immersive

✅ 404 Page

Branded and poetic, in keeping with the mood of the site: "Lost in the Shadows..."

Platform: Framer

CMS: Framer’s built-in CMS for project management

Performance: Optimized for speed despite the visual-heavy layout

Responsiveness: Custom layout tuning for mobile, tablet, and desktop

Editable: Built for non-technical creatives to update easily

The copy throughout the template uses a quiet, poetic tone, avoiding buzzwords or sales language. It speaks to creatives who work from intuition and want their portfolio to reflect their process not just the final result.

Designing for emotion is different than designing for clarity: both need space, but emotion needs rhythm.

Tone matters: the visuals were strong, but the storytelling in copy was just as crucial.

Framer is powerful: especially when used with intention. Small motion touches went a long way in evoking a vibe without distracting from the work.

Luma Noir was submitted to the Framer Marketplace as a premium template, ready for photographers who want more than a portfolio they want a space that feels like them. The design is quiet, cinematic, and ready to hold meaningful work.