198 Better Available Light Digital Photography
layers intact, and still use the camera’s numbering protocol by
adding a “−1” or whatever. They are never sharpened or resized
until you’re ready to do something with a specifi c image. Then
you can fl atten the fi le (Layer > Flatten Image) and save it as a
TIFF fi le.
When your internal hard disk starts to get crowded, look at the
oldest folders. Before dumping them into the Recycle Bin; copy
all the data, including the manipulated fi les, onto a new CD or
DVD. I know some who use external FireWire hard drives, and
when the drives fi ll up, they buy another one, keeping all their
image data “hot.” The choice of backup is up to you, but having
the image data stored in two, maybe three different places is
more than a good idea.Did somebody say distribution?
What next happens to the images depends on the client or
the fi nal application. Joe also shoots for fun, calling it “stock
photography,” and treating the image fi les just as if they wereJoe doesn’t process all the images, just the fi ve-star ones. He starts by opening representative images—ones
that can create a standard—that can be saved as a customized Camera Raw setting that can be later applied
to similar images from a particular lighting situation. Joe prefers to let his images steep, much like a good
cup of Earl Grey tea, until they have achieved some distance in time and space so he can really see the dif-
ference between a great shot and a so-so one. © 2006 Joe Farace.