To me, lighting is the most important tool for creative photography. It’s followed far behind by focal length, aperture and so on. Too many photographers approach the same “problem” with the same technique—and always get the same result.

I wish that were true. The printed page can be a frustrating place for a photographer. Sometimes images look better there, sometimes worse. Like many photographers, I once thought a publication simply took an image, “translated it” into printing plates of some sort, then worked to match the photo to the page. With that line of thinking, it’s easy to then believe that a photo should perfectly match its printed version; if it doesn’t, someone screwed up.

Most of us wear several hats in addition to photographer, one of them being archivist. That used to mean organizing and storing film; today it means managing multiple copies of images, from the original RAW file through numerous versions for different end uses. What hasn’t changed is the importance of safeguarding our images, making data backup perhaps the most important step in our workflow.

New legislation now winding its way through Congress may change the way photographers do business. Called the Trademark Dilution Revision Act, the bill has civil liberties and arts groups representing photographers, illustrators and other artists concerned that First Amendment protections now given to images showing famous corporate logos could be eliminated.