Aperature & .CR2 pictures into CS5 keeps importing as .JPEG

Question

Just recently I picked up a Canon T2i and started to shoot in the RAW format, along with the camera I also got Aperature (3.1). After everything imports as projects into Aperature, I proceed to open CS5 and try to open the selected RAW pics from the Aperature folder located in the finder window. The bottom format drop down box I select "Camera Raw" (6.2), click open object and Photoshop proceeds to open the picture in .JPEG. However when after I extract the picture to a location other than Aperature (desktop, picture folder etc.) using Image Capture and double clicking it causes Camera Raw to open it in the .CR2 format (which is what I want). Any input is appreciated. Cheers.

Answer 1

Remember that Aperture is two things....
1) it a photo asset "management" system
2) it's a photo adjustment application
Item #1 is very important... if you start opening images with other applications, but Aperture doesn't know you're opening images with other applications, unexpected things can happen.
When you adjust images in Aperture, those adjustments are not saved to the RAW file you imported from camera. Aperture never updates the image you imported from camera (it treats that as a digital "negative") and the changes you do make are typically never stored to any image file (though you can force it to do this... there's no need to.) Those changes are stored as meta-data, but Aperture creates the illusion that the adjustments are applied.
What's really happening is that Aperture merely takes note of the adjustments you're making (maintained in a separate area of the library), opens the original RAW (which it never directly adjusts), and then applies the adjustments to the image as the image is loaded. You end up seeing the adjusted image just as you left it. But that's not what is saved on disk -- it's just what you see on screen. While this might not makes sense, the benefit of working this way is that you can individually change ANY adjustment you've made (or remove them) without effecting all the OTHER adjustments you've made. It gives you a lot of flexibility.
If you now close Aperture, open Photoshop, then open navigate to the image in Finder and open it in Photoshop, what you're opening is the ORIGINAL image as it was taken from the camera (no Aperture adjustments are applied.) If you then adjust and save the image (probably as a new file) then Aperture wont know about it because Aperture never important that particular image. You've now forked your image workflow and have an Adobe version and an Aperture version which don't look the same. This creates a mess that you probably don't want.
The recommended way is to allow Aperture to always be the "management" tool even -- but adjust the image where it makes sense. If it's the sort of adjustment Aperture handles well, just do it in Aperture. If you need more aggressive editing then still start in Aperture, but configure Photoshop as Aperture's "external editor" (found in Aperture -> Preferences -> Export) You can also specify whether you want it sent to Photoshop as a PSD or TIFF. (I also recommend you go to "Aperture -> Preferences -> General" and turn on "Auto-stack new versions".) Then right-click the image (in Aperture) and tell it you want to edit the image in your external editor.
If you do this, a few things happen. First, Aperture will build a new image... it'll take the RAW, apply all changes and make the PSD or TIFF file format (whatever you specified in the preferences panel). Assuming you enabled "Auto-stack new versions" it will ALSO create a "stack" with both your original image as well as the new file it created for purposes of export to Photoshop. It will then launch photoshop passing the new file you want to edit. When you're finished manipulating the image with Photoshop, just "Save" (or close/exit and photoshop will prompt you to save). This will cause the saved image to go precisely back into the Aperture library over-writing the new image Aperture created... but that's ok because Aperture EXPECTS that version to get over-written by the external editor.
Now when you view the Aperture library, you'll see that you have a "stack" with the freshly edited image from Photoshop as well as the original Aperture image as it was before sending it to Photoshop (which means you can revert if you need to.) The new version will become the prime version on the stack -- meaning that further adjustments in Aperture will be applied to that latest version and you will not have lost any of your work.