IPhoto 11 plus Photoshop Elements 10 or Just Photoshop Elements 10?

Question

I am a recent convert to iMac having started with iphone and then ipad.  I now what to organise a couple of years complete unorganised photos.  I would appreciate recommendations on whether I should use iphoto 11 and photoshop elements as my external editor or just use photoshop elements 10 as both my organiser and editor? I am using Lion as my OS.
As inferred above I have no tags, albums or libraries my photos are completely unorganised so no converting - looking at clean imports to either programme but would be interested in pros and cons of both routes suggested.  For example would using iphoto plus elements rather than just elements give me better integration with iphone 4, ipad 2 and apple TV. 
Thanks in advance
Mark

Answer 1

You can use Photoshop Elememts 10 with iPhoto just as you can with Photoshop or any other image editor.  The organization features of Elements is essentially file/folder management and really not digital asset management like iPhoto.  If you decide to use PSE with iPhoto the following should be of some help:
Using Photoshop CS3 or Photoshop Elements 9/10 as Your Editor of Choice in iPhoto.
1 - select Photoshop as your editor of choice in iPhoto's Advanced Preference Section's under the "Edit photo:" menu.
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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
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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 edited and will update the thumbnail file to reflect the edit..
NOTE: With Photoshop Elements 9/10 the Saving File preferences should be configured as shown:
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s  I also suggest the Maximize PSD File Compatibility be set to Always.  In PSE’s General preference pane set the Color Picker to Apple as shown:
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NOTE: If you want to use  iPhoto's editing mode as the default and PS/PSE  as the otpional editor  once you've selected PS as your editor of choice, reset the Preferences back to "Edit Photos:  in iPhoto".  That will let you either edit in iPhoto using the Edit button or Control-clicking on the thumbnail and selecting "Edit in iPhoto" or in PS/PSE by Control-clicking on the thumbnail and selecting "Edit in External Editor" in the Contextual menu.
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This way you get the best of both worlds.
OT