Photoshop Elements >

Raw Files & iPhoto

Red-breasted Sapsucker by Kevin Cole

Let's say you have a raw file called sapsucker.

We'll refer to it below.

JPEG Only?

If you're using only JPEG files with iPhoto, go to:

• Opening Files / Using iPhoto.

• Saving Files / Using iPhoto.

Raw Files, Too

You're used to using iPhoto with JPEGs.

Now you're using raw files.

Unfortunately, iPhoto is not well designed for handling raw files.

Alternative to iPhoto

Read below about using the iPhoto for raw files.

However, do consider this alternative.

If you're doing a lot of work with raw files, create a raw file folder on your Desktop.

Let's call the folder Raw Files to Be Edited.

If you already have raw files in iPhoto, export them to the Raw Files to Be Edited folder.

Download new raw files from your camera to the Raw Files to Be Edited folder.

Then, go to Photoshop Elemnents and open and save the raw files using the Raw Files to Be Edited folder.

If you wish to use iPhoto with raw files, read on.

iPhoto Preferences

You can make three changes in Preferences in iPhoto.

The first two apply to any user of iPhoto.

The third is specific to those using raw files with iPhoto.

This article assumes you've set the three preferences as follows.

1 - Edit with Photoshop Elements

Do you want to edit your photographs with Photoshop Elements rather than iPhoto?

1) Go to iPhoto > Preferences > General.

2) Look for Edit Photo: and select In Photoshop Elements.

When you select a photograph in iPhoto, and click the Edit button below the thumbnails, the photograph will open in Photoshop Elements.

2 - Open with Double Click

Do you want a photograph to open in Photoshop Elements when you double-click its thumbnail in iPhoto?

By default, when you double-click a thumbnail, it's magnified.

1) Go to iPhoto > Preferences > General.

2) Look for Double-click Photo: and select Edits photo.

3) Select a photograph in iPhoto, double-click it, and the photograph will open in Photoshop Elements.

3 - Raw Files

Let's say you have a raw file in iPhoto.

When you open it in Photoshop Elements, the raw file doesn't open.

Instead, a JPEG version of the raw file opens.

That's because when you import a raw file into iPhoto, the program creates a JPEG version of the raw file.

To open the actual raw file in Photoshop Elements, do the following.

1) Go to iPhoto > Preferences > Advanced.

2) Select Use RAW when using external editor.

Now, iPhoto will send the raw file to Photoshop Elements for editing, not the JPEG version of the raw file.

Next, we'll look at the round trip a raw file takes from iPhoto—to Photoshop Elements—and back to iPhoto.

The Raw File Round Trip

1 - In iPhoto

To open a raw file from iPhoto, in the raw converter of Photoshop Elements, do the following.

1) As explained above, make sure Use RAW when using external editor is selected when you go to iPhoto > Preferences > Advanced.

By doing so, you won't have to export the raw file to your Desktop from iPhoto, and then, open it from the Desktop into Photoshop Elements.

The raw file can go directly from iPhoto to Photoshop Elements.

2) To view raw files grouped together in an Event, go to View > Keywords and go to View > Sort Photos > By Keyword.

When you import a raw file, iPhoto automatically adds the keyword Raw to the file.

3) Select the raw file.

4) Click Edit or double-click the thumbnail, if you configured these actions in Preferences as described above.

The raw file will open in the Adobe Camera Raw converter of Photoshop Elements.

If you haven't already, go to Raw Processing.

2 - In Photoshop Elements

We'll save the Photoshop (.psd) version of the raw file.

Then, we'll save the JPEG version.

Save the Photoshop File

After processing a raw file, you'll have a Photoshop (.psd) version of the file to save.

If you go to File > Save, the Photoshop file will be saved in the iPhoto Library.

However, you won't see the thumbnail of the Photoshop file in an Event folder.

Do This Instead

There are two steps.

First, you save the Photoshop file to your Desktop,.

Second, you import the file into iPhoto from the Desktop.

Do the following.

Step #1 - In Photoshop Elements

1) In Photoshop Elements, save the Photoshop file to your Desktop.

Step #2 - In iPhoto

2) In iPhoto go to File > Import to Library.

3) Select Desktop under Places on the left side of the window.

4) Select the Photoshop file.

5) Click Import.

A thumbnail of the Photoshop version of the raw file will appear in the same Event containing the raw file.

You may want to create a keyword, PSD, with which to label Photoshop files.

Otherwise, you'll have to look in Information to see whether a thumbnail is a JPEG file or a Photoshop file.

Now, we'll save the Photoshop file as a JPEG file.

Save as a JPEG File

If you're going to print or e-mail the photograph, you'll need a JPEG.

Do the following.

In Photoshop Elements

1) In Photoshop Elements, go to File > Save As.

2) Change the file format from Photoshop to JPEG.

3) Append -edited, or some other notation, to the file name.

Make sure you preserve the .jpg at the end of the file name.

4) Change the destination, in the Where box, to your Desktop.

5) Click Save.

6) Select 12 as the quality level in the JPEG Options window.

7) Click OK.

In iPhoto

4) In iPhoto, go to File > Import to Library.

5) Select Desktop under Places on the left side of the window.

6) Select sapsucker-edited.jpg.

7) Click Import.

A thumbnail of the JPEG file will appear in a new Event.

The Event will be labeled, not with today's date, but with the date of the raw file from which the JPEG version was made.

You can merge the new Event with the Event containing the raw file.

Drag the new Event, with sapsucker-edited inside, onto the old Event, containing sapsucker.

Smart Album for Raw Files

You can create a Smart Album where the keyword is Raw.

Your raw files will still appear in their Events folders, as well as in the Raw Smart Album.

iPhoto automatically tags raw files with the keyword Raw.

To view the Raw keyword below the thumbnails, go to View > Keywords.

To group all raw files side-by-side in an Event folder, go to View > Sort > By Keyword.

Create a Raw Smart Album

Do the following.

1) Go to File > New Smart Album.

2) Enter a name, such as Raw Files.

3) There are two drop-down menus, and a text box.

In the first drop-down menu, select Keyword.

In the second drop-down menu, choose is.

In the the text box, enter Raw.

Keyword

is

Raw

4) Click OK.

Now, raw files appear in their particular Events, and in the Raw File Smart Album.

Adobe Camera Raw

To edit raw files with Photoshop Elements, download and install the latest version of Adobe Camera Raw converter.

Go to Updates.

More

Go to The iPhoto Library.