We show that imaging an isotropic, high contrast, conductive medium is asym
ptotically equivalent to the identification of a unique resistor network, g
iven measurements of currents and voltages at the boundary. We show that a
matching pursuit approach can be used effectively towards the numerical sol
ution of the high-contrast imaging problem, if the library of functions is
constructed carefully and in accordance with the asymptotic theory. We also
show how other libraries of functions that at first glance seem reasonable
, in fact, do not work well. When the contrast in the conductivity is not s
o high, we show that wavelets can be used, especially nonorthogonal wavelet
libraries. However, the library of functions that is based on the high-con
trast asymptotic theory is more robust, even for intermediate contrasts, an
d especially so in the presence of noise.