Saving after Editing in Photoshop CS6

Question

I have iPhoto 11 set so that all of my editing occurs in Photoshop CS6. Photos open in camera raw, I can make further edits in PS, etc. But a problem arrises when it is time to save the changes. I use the "Save" function and not "Save As". At this point the dialogue box defaults to save the .psd file. I have changed this to .jpeg. Then, when I hit save and closed PS, the edits do not appear in iPhoto. So, I tried again and didn't change the file type. Again, no edits appearing in iPhoto. I do, however, find the newly saved jpeg and .psd files in my library subdirectory (from where I've then dragged them to the desktop and then re-imported them into iPhoto).
What I've discvored, when looking at the directory to where PS is attempting to save, is that I'm working with a .CR2 file out of iPhoto. I realize this is a camera raw formatted file. So, I then attempted to save the edited file with this same name/naming convention, but PS won't allow me to do that. There is a "Photoshop Raw" file option, but nothing that says ".CR2"
So, my question is, what's the workflow solution with iPhoto 11 and Photoshop CS6 so that, when saving, my photos will appear as edited in iPhoto and retain the option to revert to the original file without having to save duplicates, etc. to the desktop and re-importing? For the record, I was always able to do this, simply, with previous versions of iPhoto and CS4. But, now that I've upgraded to both iPhoto 11 and CS6, I'm having this problem.

Answer 1

Correct. Especially since iPhoto 11
iPhoto and Aperture (and Lightroom) work in much the same way. The image is never touched. When you process it your decisions are saved in the database and applied to the image as you view it live.
The thumbnail is updated. There is no "modified" file in iPhoto 11. There is a Preview - a shortcut to save you exporting for many common uses - email, uploading etc.
Raw shots present a problem. For  start, they're not really a file, just a dump of (almost) all the data from the camera sensor. If you shoot Jpeg the camera takes this data and processes it (i.e. makes editorial decisions) and saves the images as a Jpeg.
If you shoot Raw its because you want to make those editorial decisions yourself. You think that you can get better results, or ones that you prefer, by performing the same process on your computer.
So you import the Raw data to your computer and start making editorial decisions.
If you're using iPhoto (or Aperture or Lightroom) those decisions are recorded in the application's database. Want to view the Photo? Then iPhoto will show you the Raw plus your decisons. That's why it's lossless. Change your mind about something, all that's changing is the entry in the database. The original image is untouched.
Next problem... you can't do anything with a Raw. Can't print it, upload it, share it in edited form etc. To do any of these things you must have a version in the common image formats: Jpeg, Tiff etc
So, now you have a Raw, and a version that is made from that Raw.
Strictly speaking, to get that version you have to export - Basically, save this edited Raw as... something.
iPhoto (and Aperture) have a handy shortcut for this - Previews. It's a "good-enough-for-most-things" version. It saves you having to tediously export every single photo of your girlfriend's mother's cat. You can just email her the Preview.
And if you change your decisions about the Raw: the entry in the database changes and the Preview is destroyed and a new one created automatically, reflecting the new version of the shot.
(And note too: this is the case with Jpegs as well. And every version of iPhoto since iPhoto08 has used the Modified version in the same way. The modified version doesn't exist at all in iPhoto 11)
And the difference between iPhoto and Aperture or Lightroom - just more fine control over the process.
So, yes, iPhoto 11 performs true lossless editing.
Regards
TD