Tolstoi once said that everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. I try to remind myself this quote daily, especially when confronted with criticism. Everybody wants to go to heaven, no one wants to die.

The most common question received from (new) photographers regards refusals. If you're no longer new and noticed this (forbidden) question on the boards think what support sees on email. Just as the rules apply on the forums, they apply on the blogs too, so I will not discuss here about refusals. When one receives a refusal, he/she might want to really take it as a guidance and try to shoot better their next batch. Don't complain to support, if it got refused it will not sell. Maybe it will do it once, twice, but we want it to sell hundreds of times.

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This is written while still under the influence of the Rolling Stones in their first show in Romania, an ex-communist country, where they were waited for 45 years. I don't plan to write about the show itself, this is about something completely different.

Musical genres are subject to personal opinions and you may very well like or dislike these guys. 60,000 thousands people on a stadium waited for them at 110 F and enjoyed their performance more than anything else.

Lots of Romanian blogs have been writing about the concert today. A certain blogger remembered how people could've got arrested in their homes 20 years ago for listening to such music. Just for playing it, just for listening to a certain radio station, just for expressing personal thoughts (photography included).

If you ...

Never thought that the blogs will be so educative and helpful to the community. I expected this to be a very dynamic place with a lot of self-advertising that would've needed to be moderated.

Instead, I see how passionate you are about your work and realize what an extraordinary section this will be. Technically it follows almost the same procedure as the message boards, but from a psychological point of view this is entirely different.

It's very difficult to get back to my regular tasks. I will have to remove my F5 key!

110F/45C forecasted for today in Bucharest, with almost everyone staying in house (or shopping for water in the stores).

We faced electricity issues in the office due to the high consumption in the neighbourhood so we can't use any air conditioning. The government closed all public institutions hoping to persuade people to stay at home.

Getting close to announce the winners for the Water assignment. What a refreshment and how many great images. A very up to day subject unfortunately....

In an article that (may) receives applause from traditionalists, Chris Ferrone describes an obvious case of sensitive usage associated with Model Release issues (or better said total absence of).

Next time you get a refusal based on a legal issue (potential trademark infringement or something that seems nonsense about your MR) think about this case:

Virgin Mobile using photo without a model release

Is it the site's fault, the CC license's or the designer's fault?

We often run surveys asking customers or contributors about their experience with Dreamstime. You will probably see more ideas in my blog or somewhere else on the site ;)

Here is one of them:"Clipping Path Outlines on photographs of objects are a handy feature that I haven't yet experienced on Dreamstime."

Although I've seen images with clipping paths this customer probably didn't probably download one of them. It is good to keep in mind when post-processing your photo that there is enough interest from buyers for this so try to provide a clipping path for the main subject in your image. If you work with layers or isolated objects that should be easy to do.

How to create one in Photoshop:

1. Separate your object in a different layer. Make sure its margins are well ...