Photodune Review: Part of Envato Marketplace

Published on 1 March 2017 | Updated on 18 January 2020

IMPORTANT NOTE: I wrote the original Photodune Review in September 2012 (see below), a few months after I had registered with this stock agency. Since then, I have had pretty good sales and payout on regular basis. Unfortunately, in November 2016, Envato Market announced something that shocked the community of stock photographers. They decided to stop accepting images to Photodune and start some important changes to the way they approach stock images on their platform. For more details follow the link to the original announcement.

As a result, in February 2017, I received this email:

“As part of our library-wide assessment of photos on PhotoDune, we’ve done a review of your portfolio. Unfortunately, the sample we looked through resulted in a very high number of photos that did not meet our new library standards. Here are some general reasons why photos didn’t meet our guidelines:

• Inappropriate content type
• Composition/Lighting
• Authenticity and commercial viability
• Too many similar images

Over the coming weeks we’ll be removing your PhotoDune portfolio as part of our clean up process. If you are selling other item types on other Envato marketplaces, those items will not be affected by this change on PhotoDune. We’ve written a forum post with a few more details (including around balance pay out) and we encourage you to read it and ask any questions you may have. If you are interested in selling with PhotoDune and Elements in the future, you’ll always be welcome to reapply when we reopen applications to the public (we hope you do). All the best with your future endeavours,”

Then, in April 2017, my entire portfolio was removed:

“Further to our previous emails and the announcement on the Envato Forums, as part of our reorganization of the photo library we have now removed your items from PhotoDune. If you are selling other item types on other marketplaces on Envato, those items will not be affected by this change on PhotoDune and you can continue to upload and sell items on other marketplaces within Envato Market. Please refer to our forum post for more information (including information about balance pay out). Thanks for your time and contribution to PhotoDune. The Envato Market Team”

Conclusion

I have been contributing to Envato for over 5 years and then I found out that my photos do not meet their new library standards. Very, very, very disappointing. It is shame that all my time spent over the years building stock image portfolio has just gone to waste. It affected many stock photographers with images greater than mine. I really feel bad with this decision and the approach. For the moment, I have no plans of coming back as a contributor. It carries too much risk that somebody will change their mind in the future and remove my entire portfolio again.

Original Photodune Review in September 2012

I have joined PhotoDune not so long ago and was surprised how fast this website is growing. As part of Envato Market, PhotoDune is a good source of stock images and should be considered by all stock photographers and illustrators. Not all types of stock photos sell here, but you should be happy with the reward this site can offer. Easy upload process including reliable FTP, simple navigation with straight forward editing of your already accepted stock images.

In order to become PhotoDune Contributor, you need to follow these steps:

• visit PhotoDune Contributor’s Page and register as a Member;
• read the Authoring Tutorial (an overview of some important information on uploading, copyright and selling);
• take the Author Quiz (to ensure that you have understood the authoring tutorial – it is very simple);
• once passed, you must first submit your portfolio for review (not required if you wish to sell to other Envato marketplaces). A zipped folder containing 5 – 15 photographs that are an accurate reflection of your photographic portfolio. Photographs submitted in your portfolio are not automatically placed for sale on PhotoDune website and do not need to be accompanied by release forms. Once your .zip file is ready, submit your portfolio.
• once accepted, you can start uploading more of your content.

It may take take up to a week for your images to be reviewed. As a non-exclusive contributor you receive 33% on each sale (50-70% for Exclusive Contributors).

Photodune Review: Our verdict

Great website with many features, and what is most important, with excellent financial reward opportunity for stock photographers. Contributors with skills, in the field of graphic design, 3D rendering, website theme design, videographers or music creators will find their place for selling stock media on other parts of Envato Market, such as ThemeForest, CodeCanyon, VideoHive, AudioJungle, GraphicRiver, 3DOcean or ActiveDen.

Photodune Details