Can I open a photo in MAC Iphoto from PSE 6.0?

[rbailey]

I haven't figured out yet how to open a photo that is in my MAC Iphoto. What I have to do is drag a copy onto the desktop in order to work with the picture I want to use in PSE 6.0.
There has to be a simpler way but my daughter and I haven't figured out yet and have been trying since Christmas! :(


Rbailey

[Wendy]

Hi ...

... and welcome to the Village :)

You can set the iPhoto prefs so that double clicking opens the image in Elements ... thats OK if its just one image that you are looking to edit but if you are going to edit a whole series of images then I think its better to export them all to a desktop folder and then use Bridge to access them.

Also once you have edited the images then you really need to save them on the Mac before importing them into iPhoto. Saving directly back into the iPhoto library can cause all sorts of corruption to the database.

Wendy :)

[cookingmylife]

Why use Bridge as an intermediary? Once you have that folder can't you just open a bunch directly from PE? btw, I finally made a desktop folder for transfers when I got fed up trying to do what rbaily was doing. Iphoto is certainly funky in many ways.

I have seen tho that you can drag a photo directly from Iphoto into the PE icon in the dock and that will open PE. It takes a bit of time to actually open the program and then show the photo but it works.

[rbailey]

Oh, so it is still a lot of work then?
I like Iphoto for using some quick editing for cropping and red eye features.
But you are saying not to leave your photos in Iphoto because of corruption?

[cookingmylife]

rbailey, I was asking Wendy why she used Bridge after making a desktop folder. I don't get that. And when I say a bit of time, it's that i'm impatient and miss the superfast speeds we had when I was still working.

I don't know about the corruption, but once I make something in PE, I don't save it at all in Iphoto. I use Iphoto for storage of my photos straight from camera, and a seperate Iphoto library holds my digital elements. I am still tagging photos from years back that were with me preMac.

Wendy seems to be saying once you make changes in your photos, you need to save those changes. (LOL..which one of us hasn't forgotten to save before closing!?!?) but as for me, I don't always save those edited photos IN Iphoto. I guess each of needs to find where we want to keep our edited photos depending on how or if we plan to use them.

[ljameso1]

Selecting all photos you want to open from iphoto and then dragging them to the PSE icon in the mac dock works very well. The difficulty comes in with saving your changes. If you just save it will be in a roll # and not visible when you open iphoto and could be corrupted. Instead, when done editing use file>save as to save to a desktop folder. Then use iphoto's file>import feature to bring them in for tagging, so they show in the library.

[ricklepage]

Here are a couple of other threads that talk about iPhoto and PSE (and Bridge, Aperture, et al):

PE6 and Mac's iPhoto (http://www.elementsvillage.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45705)
Using Bridge To Import iPhoto files to PSE (http://www.elementsvillage.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47419)
iPhoto and RAW (http://www.elementsvillage.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47112)
iPhoto and PSE and Aperture (http://www.elementsvillage.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47162)

Rick

[Bob32]

rbailey,

I have an iMac and use PSE 6 for Mac for all my editing. By going into your iPhoto Preferences/General you can set up your system so that by right clicking on a photo and then clicking on pop-up menu item Edit In External Editor the image will open up directly in PSE 6. I also have my Preferences set up so that when I double click on an image in iPhoto it opens up to full-screen size. I don't use Bridge at all.

After editing photos in PSE 6 most of them are saved directly back to the iPhoto Library. This has not caused any corruption problems that I am aware of in the more than two years I have been doing this.

Wendy, just what is this corruption problem you speak of? This is the first I have heard of it. What are the symptoms of this malady? I'd like to hear about this from anybody else who is familiar with this issue, including what steps may be necessary to deal with it.

Bob

[ricklepage]

I think what Wendy's referring to is the fact that people have tried to save Elements-edited photos into the iPhoto Library folders, thinking that iPhoto will automatically recognize the updated photo. This can cause some problems, and, in the early versions of iPhoto, could cause some issues with the iPhoto database.

That's not the case so much any more, but iPhoto really doesn't play as nicely with PSE (or any external editor) as it should. That's why a lot of people use the folder method to work with photos.

The real trick to 'round-tripping' with iPhoto is to use the same file format. If you import a JPG into iPhoto, edit in Elements, and then keep it as a JPG, when you save it and close it, it should be updated. The same works for TIF and PSD files - as long as you don't save the file in a different format, you'll see your edits in iPhoto after you're done in Elements.

Working with Raw is a bit more challenging, but it's doable as well. You just need to pay a little more attention to the whole workflow angle, but it can be done.

Rick

[Bob32]

Rick,

Thanks for the feedback. You have helped moderate my alarm system which went into high gear when I read Wendy's post! I have edited photos using PSE 4 and PSE 6 for Mac with iPhoto '06 and more recently PSE 6 for Mac with iPhoto '09 with no obvious signs of corruption. I usually maintain the same JPEG format throughout the importation/editing/saving process, so perhaps that has helped keep me out of trouble.

I have noted that if I edit a photo in PSE and then do a "Save As" instead of a "Save" I have to save it to the desktop and then drag and drop it into the iPhoto Library.

Bob

[Wendy]

Hi Maureen ...

The reason I use Bridge once I have dropped the images into a desktop folder is that I may well have put 150 or so images into the folder. Bridge is a fantastic filebrowser so I use it to decide which images I want to work on first and then I use it to open the images in Elements.

Bridge is great not only for use with Elements but also as a general purpose filebrowser ... you can use it to locate anything on the Mac and then double clicking on the "item" will open it with soever what you have specified in Bridge File associations. So you can open Videos in Quicktime, jpgs in Elements .. you can even use it to open applications, games etc.

As far as the iPhoto library goes I still don't save images I have edited in Elements directly back into it ... I have another folder on my desktop and once I have edited an image I save the image into there. When I have done them all I go into iPhoto and do Add to Library for the whole folder. That only takes a few seconds longer ... I just don't like to tempt fate with the possibility of corrupting the library.

Wendy