IPhoto and Adobe software

Question

In the past I have cautioned photographers who will be using Adobe Photoshop not to acquire images via iPhoto because those images were not directly available to other software. e.g. when people open an image from within iPhoto into Photoshop Elements and process the image, the saved photoshop document could not be stored in a folder with its original image.
Has this changed with new versions of iPhoto?  e.g. If someone uses the iPhoto downloader, are the images stored in a disignated spot on the hard drive where other software can directly access the images?
This is an important question as I teach Photoshop Elements or Photoshop CS to digital photographers. 
Has Apple made iPhoto less proprietary?
Thanks for your input.
Mary Lou

Answer 1

This might be of interest to you:
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.
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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 editied and will update the thumbnail file to reflect the edit..
NOTE: With Photoshop Elements 9 the Saving File preferences should be configured as shown:
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I also suggest the Maximize PSD File Compatabilty 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 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.
OT