Completely confused by folders, Photoshop Elements & iPhoto!

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I need help! I switched over to Mac a month ago from Windows and I'm absolutely loving the Mac! However, I'm getting more confused by the day when it comes to editing in Elements. I've gotten iPhoto set up to open a photo in Elements when I click 'edit' but then that edited photo does not go back into iPhoto. Only the original remains. Sometimes I can find it by going to >File>Open> and in the dropdown box it will be under recent places, but not in the Photo folder. The 'name' of the folder (?) will be a bunch of numbers, i.e. 20130104-151935. I realized that the first set of numbers is the date but I am completely confused about how to find those edited photos without going to the 'recent places' described above. I know I have photos I've edited but now I can't find them because of this confusion. For example, last night I was editing my cousin's senior pictures and I named the folder "Austin Winter" and now it's no where to be found.....or at least I don't know where to find it! The originals are in iPhoto but the edited ones in that named folder are lost in space....can someone please help? I'm not the most tech savvy, but I'm not totally dumb either :\ Thanks for any help or suggestions you have!
 
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I'm confused, you say you push "edit", this makes me think you are pushing edit in iPhoto?
 
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Correct. I have Elements set as my default editing program.
 
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That really doesn't clear anything up for me. It sounds like you are pressing "edit" in iPhoto, not Elements. They are 2 very separate programs.

When I want to use Photoshop to edit a picture from my iPhoto library, I have alway just dragged the photo from my iPhoto into the Photoshop icon in the dock. Then Photoshop opens right up with the photo ready to edit.

At that point, I save the project as a .psd file in whatever folder I want to use. The photo's folder of course would then be fine.

If you then wanted, for whatever reason, to put the edited photo back into iPhoto, I would save it as a .jpeg and just drag and drop it into iPhoto. You would then have both, the original and the edited version in iPhoto, if that's what you desired.
 
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Yes, I sometimes open a photo in iPhoto then edit in Elements. That isn't an issue for me. My problem is that once I've saved the photo after editing I'm not sure where the photo goes. Or an entire album of edited photos, like I mentioned in my first post. Sorry if I'm confusing you, I really appreciate your help :)
 
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One more thing, do you use the Elements Organizer? I'd just as soon not even use iPhoto as I have pics in there and in the organizer as well. I feel like I'm not organized at all & photos are scattered itch me not knowing what is where.
 
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When you save the photo out of Photoshop you can chose the directory (folder) that you save it in. Just make sure you have the proper directory selected when you save and you shouldn't be having this issue.

I don't have Photoshop Elements, I have Photoshop CS6. But I did use Elements at one time. I use iPhoto to store my photos now simply because of iCloud. I take my photos with my phone so having them just appear in my photostream is really useful.

It's a non-issue for me to drag a pic into Photoshop if I want to edit it there.
 
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When you save the photo out of Photoshop you can chose the directory (folder) that you save it in. Just make sure you have the proper directory selected when you save and you shouldn't be having this issue.


Thanks for the info, I'll be sure of the directory I'm saving photos to when I work on some tomorrow. Hopefully that'll solve my issue! Thanks again! :)
 
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If this was your issue, then next time you go to save a photo, take a look at the directory that it is saving to by default. It's likely that everything you have been saving will be in that folder.
 
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If this was your issue, then next time you go to save a photo, take a look at the directory that it is saving to by default. It's likely that everything you have been saving will be in that folder.

Thanks, I will!
 
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chas_m

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When I set PS Elements as my external editor in iPhoto, everything works as I expect: double-click photo in iPhoto, Elements opens with photo, make changes, save, changed photo turns up in iPhoto.

I'm not using the latest version of Elements but I'd lay odds that you've been suckered into using the Organizer in Elements and that is where the problems are rooted.
 
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I think you're right. The only reason I even use the organizer is because my edited photos don't show up in iPhoto, only in the organizer.
 
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Ok, I was just reading some other posts about this same subject and I figured out part of my problem. When I save a photo after editing in Elements I choose "Save As" because I need to name my photos (I sell them on Etsy and need to be able to find them easily) anyway, I figured out that if I just "Save" then the edited file will go back to iPhoto. Now here's my new issue. I put a watermark on all photos that I'll be listing on Etsy. In the Windows world I would "Save As" and add "WATERMARK" to the end of my photo's name so I'd know which ones were watermarked for the website. Now I can't do that but if I choose simply "Save" it wants to overwrite the original edited photo. Anyone know how to get around this so I can have both the watermarked and not marked photo available in the same location? (iphoto I guess)
 
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chas_m

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iPhoto (at least the newest 9.x [aka iPhoto 11]) automatically duplicates any photo that is being "sent out" to an external editor so that you have both the original and the edited one when it comes "back" from PS Elements.

In your case I'd say the best workflow is this:

1. In iPhoto, select the photo you want to edit.
2. This will open PS Elements; edit the photo but do not do the watermark yet.
3. Press Save. This will send the edited but unwatermarked photo back to iPhoto.
4. Now add the watermark. Use Save As and save it to a different location with the altered name.
5. Quit PS Elements, ignoring any warning to save the work again.

You should now have
a. An edited but unwatermarked photo in iPhoto and
b. An edited AND watermarked photo in your other location
 
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Thanks, I will try that....
 

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