How to get iphoto 09 and lightroom to play nicely together?

Question

my current workflow is this: drop originals onto iphoto and edit in external editor from within iphito. the current external editor is photoshop elements 8. When I'm done with the edit, I save and the edited photo shows up in iphoto and the original is saved behind the scenes. Lightroom, as well as Aperature doesn't have a save function, they boyh have an export function which is not the same as save. My edited and exported photo never makes it to the edit folder which has to be created by iphoto the first time you edit a photo in an event. Anybody have an idea how I can get lightroom to play nicely with iphoto?
thanks
JAW

Answer 1

You can't. You're confusing Lightroom and Aperture with an image editor.
Lightroom, as well as Aperature doesn't have a save function, they boyh have an export function which is not the same as save.
They work very differently from iPhoto. Where iPhoto saves your edits in a new file, these apps don't. Instead they record your decisions in their database and when you view a photo these are applied live on top of the original. So, your edits are saved, just in an totally lossless way.
You cannot use either Lightroom or Aperture as an external editor with iPhoto for the very simple reason that neither of them is an "editor". They, like iPhoto, are Digitial Asset Managers. Like iPhoto they have powerful abilities to post-process a photo, but that's not the same as "editing". You can't add things to a photo - like text or layers, and your ability to remove things is quite limited - though not as limited as iPhoto. Both are specifically optimised for working with Raw formats rather than Jpeg.
To use something as an external editor it will need to be a: an editor and b: have no database or image management ambitions.
In order of price here are some suggestions:
Seashore (free)
_[The Gimp|http://www.gimp.org/macintosh>_ also free
Graphic Coverter ($45 approx)
Acorn ($50 approx)
[Pixelmator|http://www.pixelmator.com> ($60 approx.)
Photoshop Elements ($75 approx)
There are many, many other options. Search on MacUpdate.
You can set Photoshop (or any image editor) as an external editor in iPhoto. (Preferences -> General -> Edit Photo: Choose from the Drop Down Menu.) This way, when you double click a pic to edit in iPhoto it will open automatically in Photoshop or your Image Editor, and when you save it it's sent back to iPhoto automatically. This is the only way that edits made in another application will be displayed in iPhoto.
Regards
TD