IPhoto With Adobe Elements Or CS4

Question

I'm trying to use iPhoto with Adobe Elements (and/or CS4) as my default editor.
I have the files in RAW / NEF format and I click to edit in external editor.
My goal is to save the changes I've made back into iPhoto (overwriting my old version) without saving it as an external file and reimporting it in.
I read on an IPhoto site this;
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..
Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to work.
When I save the file, it saves a JPEG version in the iPhoto directory, but it doesn't show up when I go back to iPhoto.  I'm also wondering why I can't save it back as a NEF file (shouldn't I do that since it's a RAW image to start)?
What's the proper way to work with iPhoto and Photoshop?
I know there are purists that seem to push to use Bridge, but i've grown to like iPhoto's features, tagging, etc.   How can I do this?
Thanks..    

Answer 1

This might be of some help:
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.
Click to view full size
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
Click to view full size
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:
Click to view full sizes
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:
Click to view full size
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