Aperture
Aperture
Editorial nighttime photograph of Mt Fuji silhouette mirrored in a dark lake with neon-pink twilight clouds
Vol. 12 · Light, January 2026
“On the third morning, the fog finally lifted.” — Hana Ito
FIG. 01 / 24
ƒ/1.8 · 1/640 · ISO 200
01 / 04
§ 01 · A publishing house for photographers

Your work, in its proper proportions.

A portfolio platform built by photographers, for photographers. Full-bleed when the image asks for it, gridded when the series asks for it. No drag-handles, no theme bazaars, no template galleries. Twelve carefully drawn layouts, a typesetting engine that respects your captions, and a print-shop integration that ships from Berlin.

Begin a folio → See twelve folios
Portfolios live
8,408
Across 62 countries
Avg. pieces / folio
24
Curated, not catalogued
Galleries this month
1,402
+218 vs. December
Press features
38
Publications, 2025
Featured by
It's Nice That LENSCRATCH Halcyon Quarterly brightwave Coast Review Northwind Press FOAM MAG Mercury & Sons Quartermast atrium It's Nice That LENSCRATCH Halcyon Quarterly brightwave Coast Review Northwind Press FOAM MAG Mercury & Sons Quartermast atrium
§ 02 · A photographer's note
“Print sells the picture. The web frames it.”
— Hana Ito · Tokyo
Folio Vol. 12 · "Light" · January 2026
§ 03 · How a folio is built

Typography that doesn't compete with the frame.

Captions in Source Serif at 14 px, page titles in 32 px, no chrome between them and the image. Your photographs sit on a true black; the page weight is 28 KB before the first photograph loads. We typeset each caption manually before publishing — italics, ampersands, the em-dashes between attributions. A page is signed off only when an editor has read it twice.

Every image is served at four sizes, three formats, and a quality target of 0.8 SSIM. We never serve a JPG larger than the device asked for.

A print shop, attached.

We partnered with a master printer in Berlin (Whitewall's old atelier crew) to handle prints, framing, and editions directly from your folio. List a piece for sale; we handle the proofing, the certificate of authenticity, the embossed signature, and the courier. You keep 88% of the print's sale price — most platforms keep 30%.

Available on Atelier only. 14 paper stocks, 28 frame finishes, six edition cap models, including Print №07 — a slow-edition format where each piece is hand-signed on receipt of payment.

§ 04 · The layouts

Built for photographers, not Webflow.

Twelve layouts drawn by photographers. None of them are themes. You can't drag a button. You can't add a hero carousel with three calls to action. You choose a layout for a series, and the typesetter does the rest.

Layout 01 Full-bleed

The Single Frame

One image per page, edge to edge. Caption typeset beneath, accreditation in mono below.

Layout 02 Diptych

The Diptych

Two photographs in conversation. Equal width, one caption per side, 32 px hairline gutter.

Layout 03 Grid of 12

The Contact Sheet

Twelve frames in a 4×3 grid. Captions in the margin, never beneath the thumbnail.

Layout 04 Long scroll

The Centered Column

A vertical narrative. Twenty-four images down a 720 px column with measured pauses between.

Layout 05 Index

The Editor's Index

A single cover image; everything else lives in a typeset index with year markers in mono.

Layout 06–12 + 7 more

And seven more.

Margin-less spreads, the slow reveal, mosaic, mirrored pair, ledger, masthead, contact print.

§ 05 · From the archive

Twelve folios, briefly seen.

Browse 8,408 portfolios →
"Hokkaido in Winter"
Hana Ito — Tokyo
VOL. 12 · 24 platesPrint Atelier
"Quiet Trades"
Marcus Tobin — Glasgow
VOL. 09 · 32 platesEditor's pick
"Atelier Calderón"
Ines Calderón — Mexico City
VOL. 07 · 18 platesAtelier
§ 06 · Two ways to publish

Folio. Or Atelier.

Both come with our twelve layouts, custom domains, and the typesetting engine. Atelier adds commerce and the Berlin print shop.

Folio

§ A
$14 / month

For the working photographer who wants a clean place to show 50 pieces.

  • §Up to 50 pieces, four series
  • §All twelve layouts
  • §One custom domain (TLS auto)
  • §Inbound press inquiries via email
Begin a Folio →
Print & commerce

Atelier

§ B
$39 / month

Unlimited pieces, the Berlin print shop, and 88% payout on every print sold.

  • §Unlimited pieces and series
  • §Berlin print & framing partner
  • §Editions of 14, 28, or open
  • §Consultation with our editors
Open an Atelier →
§ 07 · Photographers on Aperture
“Squarespace made my work look like everyone else's. Aperture made it look like mine.”
— Hana Ito · Tokyo
“Sold 28 prints in 14 days. The print quality from the Berlin atelier is honestly better than my own.”
— Marcus Tobin · Glasgow
“No drag handles, no theme picker, no preview-of-a-preview. Just my photographs.”
— Ines Calderón · Mexico City
“Got an editorial commission from FOAM the week after my folio went live. First time that's happened.”
— Priya Anand · Mumbai
§ 08 · Honest questions

A few things photographers tend to ask.

§ FAQ.01

Can I migrate a Squarespace or Format portfolio without losing my URLs?

+

Yes. We import your existing image library and remap every page URL to a 301. Our import has handled 1,408 portfolios so far — the average migration takes 38 minutes, and we re-encode every image at our four target sizes during the move.

§ FAQ.02

How are images compressed, and can I serve original-quality RAW or TIFF files?

+

We target SSIM 0.8 in AVIF and WebP, fall back to JPG at quality 88. You can upload up to 64 MP originals. RAW and TIFF are accepted but downsampled at delivery — the original is retained for your print shop and ZIP exports.

§ FAQ.03

What is the cut on print sales, and who owns the relationship with the buyer?

+

12% to Aperture (covers print, framing, courier, fraud, returns). 88% to you. The buyer's email is yours from the moment they purchase. We never market to your collectors.

§ FAQ.04

Can I right-click protect, watermark, or otherwise restrict the images?

+

We don't believe in faux-DRM. A right-click block makes your work look insecure and your site look amateur. We offer signed-URL galleries with 14-day expiry for press previews, plus embedded IPTC and XMP copyright in every served file.

§ FAQ.05

What's the policy on AI training — can my images be scraped to train models?

+

We serve noai and noimageai meta on every page, plus per-image C2PA provenance manifests. We've sued one scraper. We will sue more.

§ 09 · One last frame

A folio that looks like you took the photograph on purpose.

28-day trial. Bring up to 50 pieces. Migrate from Squarespace, Format, or Cargo in an afternoon — our team handles the redirects.

Begin a folio → Or speak with an editor first →