PE6 and Mac's iPhoto

[Kennedy Ink]

I'm having quite the issues with figuring out how to best store my scrapbooking supplies (whether to use iPhoto, the Organizer in PE, or the Bridge). As well, iPhoto has the neat feature of making Smart Albums, which makes sense from a Scrapbooking point of view (choose the 100 really good shots from the 500 photos taken on the vacation, and put them in an album - in theory to use for finding them easy Scrapbooking).

However, when I go to File>Place and navigate to the Smart Album, everything disappears on the screen. Likewise, if I try to look at an Event in iPhoto, poof! away goes everything.

Should I even bother with iPhoto? Should I be organizing a different way? I'm so used using a PC (not a Mac) that I organize via the Windows Explorer folders and subfolders. iPhoto has that capability, but it doesn't translate into the File>Place option in PE6.

I've not yet used the Bridge, but have read some posts that refer to it. Is this perhaps the best way to put scrapbooking supplies on a digital page?

And is there any way to avoid the dreaded white box around non-square elements besides Placing each element, one by one? If I Open elements (like a flower or a star) and want to drag it onto the canvas from the pallete below, a white background accompanys the element. The only way I have found to avoid this is to Place each element. I'm assuming I am doing something wrong. Perhaps many things! :)

[ljameso1]

I'm having quite the issues with figuring out how to best store my scrapbooking supplies (whether to use iPhoto, the Organizer in PE, or the Bridge). As well, iPhoto has the neat feature of making Smart Albums, which makes sense from a Scrapbooking point of view (choose the 100 really good shots from the 500 photos taken on the vacation, and put them in an album - in theory to use for finding them easy Scrapbooking).

However, when I go to File>Place and navigate to the Smart Album, everything disappears on the screen. Likewise, if I try to look at an Event in iPhoto, poof! away goes everything.

Should I even bother with iPhoto? Should I be organizing a different way? I'm so used using a PC (not a Mac) that I organize via the Windows Explorer folders and subfolders. iPhoto has that capability, but it doesn't translate into the File>Place option in PE6.

I've not yet used the Bridge, but have read some posts that refer to it. Is this perhaps the best way to put scrapbooking supplies on a digital page?

And is there any way to avoid the dreaded white box around non-square elements besides Placing each element, one by one? If I Open elements (like a flower or a star) and want to drag it onto the canvas from the pallete below, a white background accompanys the element. The only way I have found to avoid this is to Place each element. I'm assuming I am doing something wrong. Perhaps many things! :)

Try this for saving your items. In PSE choose file>save as and save them to a desktop folder(mine is named to iphoto). Then in iphoto go to file>import, navigate to the folder and select all. This will get them in without disappearing. Once they are in can trash or burn the files in the desktop folder. To use smart albums/folders in iphoto you must 1st tell the album what keywords should trigger an input into the album. Make sure that keyword is applied to every pic you want in the album and they will automatically go there. Be sure to read iphoto help. Unlike adobe's help it's actually helpful.

[Wendy]

Hi ...

You can use either iPhoto or a folder system on your hard disk (accessed by Bridge) to store your scrapbooking kits ... and both will work just fine.

I use the second method but as I only have about 60 kits plus about 40 extras packs then for me its probably simpler.

If you are going to use iPhoto then I would suggest that you have a separate iPhoto library for your scrapbooking supplies ... you can create and manage separate libraries quite easily using iPhoto Buddy. (http://www.iphotobuddy.com/)

One thing is ... do remember that iPhoto and Elements are two separate sets of software written by two different software manufacturers so don't expect them to fully integrate.

Try finding the image in iPhoto drag and drop it onto your desktop and then use File>Place ... that works just fine :) ... or once its on your desktop use Bridge to locate and open it and then drag and drop it onto your scrapbook page.

The white box you are talking about is caused by a change Adobe made to the way that Elements works ... I guess that you are dragging from the bin up into the page ?? In PSE6 you need to do it the other way around ... drag from the open image in the workspace INTO the scrapbook page in the bin.

Hope that helps :)

Wendy

[Wendy]

Linda ...

I took way too long typing my reply and testing things :D :D

Wendy

[ljameso1]

No prob Wendy, you added different details anyway:D

[starxlr8]

I've read in a lot of places that placing graphics - whether scrapping elements or photos - directly from iPhoto to PSE6 for Mac just doesn't work. I've tried it out myself and it always causes one or both programs to crash.

I wouldn't recommend iPhoto for organizing all your digi supplies, but if you do, I would create a separate library for your photos. Opening tens of thousands of images will take a while, even with a good amount of RAM.

I do use iPhoto for my photos, but I drag any that I want to scrap to the desktop. This creates a copy.

I organize my digi supplies with Bridge, but I generally don't use it to place elements... because mostly because I scrap from one kit at a time. I just navigate to the folder.

I am considering a program like Shoebox - as Bridge can take a while to index all of my files so that I can narrow down to certain tags.

[ljameso1]

I routinely select and drag my pics from iphoto to the PSE6 icon in the dock on my mac; it works just fine. Were you by any chance dragging from iphoto to the open clipboard in PSE instead?

[starxlr8]

I routinely select and drag my pics from iphoto to the PSE6 icon in the dock on my mac; it works just fine. Were you by any chance dragging from iphoto to the open clipboard in PSE instead?

In my case, I was trying to Place and then navigate to Photos. That seems to always hang up. I just drag from iphoto to my desktop.