How can I avoid having to save edited photos to desktop?

Question

I use iPhoto '09 for organizing my photos and Photoshop Elements 6 for Mac for editing my photos, most of which are JPEGs. My procedure is to make a duplicate of the photo I wish to edit and then hand it off to PSE 6 for editing via the Edit in External Editor option.
I notice a strange phenomenon when saving my photos after editing them. Sometimes the photos can be saved directly to the same folder in which the unedited duplicate version resides (my preference), but more often I have to save the edited version to my desktop and then import it into my iPhoto program. I have not been able to discern a reason why I need to save the edited images to my desktop. The system seems arbitrary in this regard. I don't recall having this issue to deal with when I used iPhoto '06 and PSE 4 for Mac. I would appreciate somebody explaining this phenomenon and indicate how I can consistently save an edited photo directly to the folder in which the unedited version resides instead of having to save it to my desktop and then import it into iPhoto.
For your information I use iPhoto Library Manager.
Bob

Answer 1

A simple rule of thumb is: if the file format of the edited photo does not change due to the editing the file is saved to the Modified folder and viewed by iPhoto as if iPhoto did the editing. If the editing requires a format change, i.e. from jpg to psd then the new file must be saved to the desktop and imported as a new photo. The following expands on that:
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..
NOTE: With Photoshop Elements 6 the Saving File preferences should be configured: "On First Save: Save Over Current File". Also I suggest the Maximize PSD File Compatabilty be set to Always.
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
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..