Using Adobe Bridge with Photoshop Elements

You can NOT use bridge and iPhoto together - they are incompatabible - they just do not play together.

It sounds like what you want is iPhoto for a great photo manager and database and PhotoShop for an editor

TO do this is simple, go to the iPhoto preferences - iPhoto menu ==> preferences ==> general and select "edit in" "External editor then navigate to Photo shop. Nw when you double click (it that is the way the preference to edit is set) or click edit you will open PhotoShop with the selected photo ready to edit, edit is a necessary, flatten it if necessary so it will save as a jpeg and click save (not save as) and it will save back to iPhoto as a modified photo - seamless

IF you want the option by photo of how to edit leave Photo SHop as the editor and set the edit in option back to "in main window" - now if your right click (Alt click) you will get a contextual menu giving you edit in PhotoShop as an option - double clicking or clicking edit will take you directly to the iPhoto editor

Good Luck

LN

flatten it if necessary so it will save as a jpeg and click save (not save as) and it will save back to iPhoto as a modified photo

Are you doing this?

LN

Using Photoshop (or Photoshop Elements) as Your Editor of Choice in iPhoto.

1 - select Photoshop as your editor of choice in iPhoto's General Preference Section's under the "Edit photo:" menu.

2 - double click on the thumbnail in iPhoto to open it in Photoshop. When you're finished editing click on the Save button. If you immediately get the JPEG Options window make your selection (Baseline standard seems to be the most compatible jpeg format) and click on the OK button. Your done.

3 - however, if you get the navigation window that indicates that PS wants to save it as a PS formatted file. You'll need to either select JPEG from the menu and save (top image) or click on the desktop in the Navigation window (bottom image) and save it to the desktop for importing as a new photo.

This method will let iPhoto know that the photo has been editied and will update the thumbnail file to reflect the edit..

If you want to use both iPhoto's editing mode and PS without having to go back and forth to the Preference pane, once you've selected PS as your editor of choice, reset the Preferences back to "Open in main window". That will let you either edit in iPhoto (double click on the thumbnail) or in PS (Control-click on the thumbnail and seledt "Edit in external editor" in the Contextual menu). This way you get the best of both worlds

TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 08 libraries and Leopard. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.

It should be going back to iPhoto and show up there with the modifications - R U sure it is not?

LN

It will depend on what type of edits you perform in PS. Some edits change the extension to the Photoshop extension, .psd, and that's when you have be aware of the change.

OT

When you began this thread you were asking specifically about RAW files that you needed to edit. Unfortunately, the nice iPhoto-PS-iPhoto workflow is broken with RAW files. iPhoto will allow you to open your RAW for editing in PS. The problem is that when you edit the RAW file it must be saved as another format: Adobe RAW, TIFF, JPEG, etc. Since there is no way to save the edited RAW as the same file format, there is no way for that saved file to link back to its original in your iPhoto Library. The method you described in your original post: Save AS to the Desktop, then import as a new original - is the only way to do it.

Your idea of using Bridge and editing the RAW files will work ONLY if you do not import the photos into iPhoto first. You could import using Image Capture to a folder outside of your iPhoto Library. Or if your camera/camera card mounts on the Desktop, just use the Finder to drag and drop them to a folder of your choice. You can safely use Bridge to browse any folders that are not inside your iPhoto library. You could open your RAW files from Bridge and edit them in PS. Again, editing the RAW files will create files in another file format. Don't let PS save your edited RAW files as Adobe RAW, because iPhoto won't import them (unless that was added in v7). Save those edits to another folder and when you're done, import that folder into iPhoto. You can preserve your RAW files in their original folder as a backup system of digital negatives, or burn them to DVD, or whatever.

I think those are the 2 basic choices you have. Neither is particularly smooth, but perhaps you'll get used to one.

Regards.