[ROBERT_STALEY]

When processing images in Photoshop for print is it best to do all the creative stuff first and then optimise the image or the other way round?

[Angusdog]

What do you mean by "optimise" the image? You could get away with colour correction at the end of the process, but otheriwse you should always be working in a non-destructive way. If you spend ages getting an image the way you want to, and then want to replace it with a high res scan, you'd never do it (economically).
PShop 7 esp. has loads of ways of working without letting the original information deteriotate, and that's the way to work. Learn what degrades an image and bear it in mind when you work. I've had loads of "designers" hand me a PSD file at 72dpi (flattened usually) and then ask me to redo ALL the work at 300dpi - one quick way to go out of business, assuming commercial rates. Also a good way to get a punch in the nose...

[ROBERT_STALEY]

I mean optimising images for printsharpening, seting the end points, increasing contrast, colour correcting, and dot gain compensation etc, as oppossed to say layer compositing, blending, filter effects, layer effects etc.
Thanks for your reply, I'm kinda short on people to talk about this stuff to.

[sigmadog]

The short answer is yes, particularly if the images are RGB. As you know, there are far more image manipulation options for RGB images than CMYK, and the image size is smaller in RGB and, hence, changes are processed faster as well. Once you are satisfied with the creative aspects in RGB (and it's probably a good idea to check for "out of gamut" colors as a final check), then convert to CMYK and do any print specific adjustments there.
Certainly others will no doubt have their own way of doing things, but this method works for me quite nicely.