Can't find edited photos in iPhoto

[soonadog]

I purchased photoshop elements and installed it on my iMac. In photoshop, I opened a photo that was in iPhoto, edited the photo, then saved it with a new name (to preserve the original photo - I simply added the letter "a" at the end of the file name).

Now I can't find the edited photo - it's not in iPhoto in the event that the original was in. I can locate the photo using the search magnifying glass in the top right of the screen, but I don't know where it's actually located to find directly. If I right-click the file name it appears to show a hierarchy of paths that seems to indicate it's in the same "event" (June 14, 2010) in iPhoto. But it's not. When I open finder and go to iPhoto library, it doesn't show the contents.

So I wonder where my edited photos go. Sorry, I recently switched from a PC and I'm used to having file pathways and being able to organize photos and other files. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[viggen61]

If you save it with a new name, iPhoto doesn't know about it, only the original. If you want the edited version in iPhoto, you need to import it.

To see it, you have to go to your Pictures folder, right-click (or control-click if you don't have a Mighty or Magic Mouse), and select "Show Package Contents".

 

[soonadog]

When I right-click (or control click) the Pictures folder, it doesn't give me an option to "show package contents." (If I right-click "iPhoto library," which is one of the things in the Pictures folder, it does give the option for that folder.)

If I open iPhoto and click "import to library," I need to find the photo and that's my problem in the first place.

Why doesn't iPhoto "know about it"? - I'm just modifying the file name but the path should be the same.

I don't know if I want to import it into iPhoto anyway - I just want to be able to organize my photos. On my PC, I had folders by year, then subfolders with months and/or event names, so it was easy to find things. I've spent a lot of time on the new iMac and not sure why this seems so hard to do, so I must be missing something fundamental.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Dave Braine]

We edit in Photoshop, and when finished, we just click the Save option, rather than the Save As... The original photo in the iPhoto viewer then changes to the modified version. You can then export from there or whatever. However, we are using the Tiger version of iPhoto, ie it doesn't have Events.

In photoshop, I opened a photo that was in iPhoto,

Just a thought, have you got iPhoto set up so that it edits in Photoshop, or do you open the photo from within Photoshop? If iPhoto is set to edit in Photoshop, then I think that it should work as above.

 

[skybolt]

In iPhoto preferences, set Photoshop as your "external editor". Then, when you open the "edit" option, PS will open, you can edit and when you save, the photo will be right back in iPhoto where it belongs. I know this does not help for the one you have already worked on, but will certainly help in the future.

 

[viggen61]

When I right-click (or control click) the Pictures folder, it doesn't give me an option to "show package contents." (If I right-click "iPhoto library," which is one of the things in the Pictures folder, it does give the option for that folder.)

Sorry. That should have said right-click on the iPhoto Library icon.

If I open iPhoto and click "import to library," I need to find the photo and that's my problem in the first place.

Then go to iPhoto Library, open it as above, and move the new file outside the library into a new folder. Then you'll be able to import it.

Why doesn't iPhoto "know about it"? - I'm just modifying the file name but the path should be the same.

Path shmath. iPhoto has a database it uses to find things. If it's not in the database, it doesn't know about it. iPhoto can also import items into its database, and not move them into its own library, always referencing the external version.

I don't know if I want to import it into iPhoto anyway - I just want to be able to organize my photos. On my PC, I had folders by year, then subfolders with months and/or event names, so it was easy to find things. I've spent a lot of time on the new iMac and not sure why this seems so hard to do, so I must be missing something fundamental.

iPhoto DOES organize your photos by date in its library. Then, within iPhoto, you can assign keywords to each photo, and create albums. You can create two types of albums: "regular" where you manually add photos, and "smart" where iPhoto does the heavy lifting by searching through items in its database. You can create smart albums using dates, image size, camera type, keywords, etc. And shots automatically get added to the smart albums. Best of all, any photo can be in as many albums as you like. One photo could show up in say, "2009", "Holiday", "trip to Mom's", and many more...

iPhoto also automatically groups your photos into "events" as you import them.

I recommend the videos at Apple's iPhoto site for more info. This is for iPhoto9, but even iPhoto 8 has most of this. I've had iPhoto for years, and only recently started using it to its full potential.

Thanks for your help.

 

[soonadog]

Thanks for all your help - I'll need to digest all this.

One quick question though:

We edit in Photoshop, and when finished, we just click the Save option, rather than the Save As... The original photo in the iPhoto viewer then changes to the modified version.

I always want to save the original photo (often RAW) untouched, that's why I "save as" instead of "save." I assume when you "save" you are losing that original, correct?

 

[Dave Braine]

I assume when you "save" you are losing that original, correct?

No. Although iPhoto displays the edited photo, it has kept the original inan "Originals" folder deep in the iPhoto Library file. At any time you have the option of Revert to Original via iPhoto's "Photos Menu", or by right clicking on the modified one.

Don't be tempted to go digging in the iPhoto Library's folders as you can seriously mess up iPhoto.

 

[MayBlush]

If I click the save button the save as window automatically comes up. Is there something wrong with my elements?

 

[Tumbleweed666]

I don't know if I want to import it into iPhoto anyway - I just want to be able to organize my photos. On my PC, I had folders by year, then subfolders with months and/or event names, so it was easy to find things. I've spent a lot of time on the new iMac and not sure why this seems so hard to do, so I must be missing something fundamental.

if you untick "copy items.." in preferences > advanced, then you can keep the photos organized as they are in folders and just use iPhoto to look at them etc, and if Photoshop is your main editor that might be a good idea, the new photoshop also has its own organiser so I read.