The procedure seems cumbersome, however once you do it a few times it only takes a minute.

You will have to open any existing PhotoShop™ EPS images with PhotoShop in order to export the clipping path(s) and save the image as TIFF, but for all your new images, you can do it as you work.

Here's the procedure for an image without a pre-existing clipping path. There is a Macromedia Technote (3677) that tells about this, however this method is faster and more accurate than the method in the Technote.

This is a 'canned' set of instructions, so ignore any operations which you have already done.

Draw a closed clipping path(s) in Photoshop™.

Double-click on this path in the Paths palette, and name it.

Designate this path as the clipping path via the drop-down menu of the Paths palette. (Not essential when using this procedure, but you may want to do this for later convenience.)

Select File: Export: Paths to Illustrator, and select the designated clipping path in the drop down list.

Save the path.

Save the bitmap file in TIFF format - Important! You must make sure that no clipping paths or alpha channels are in the TIFF.

Select File:Save as copy. Select TIFF format from the drop-down menu. Place a check mark in the boxes labeled 'Exclude Alpha Channels' (it will be gray if no Alpha Channels exist) and 'Exclude Non-Image Data'.

Import the TIFF file into Freehand™. Somewhere out on the pasteboard is a good place to work.

Put FreeHand™ into keyline mode - otherwise the paths won't be visible. (they don't have a stroke or fill)

Import the .ai clipping path file into Freehand™. Place it near, (but not directly over) the bitmap.

The Object Inspector will show 2 objects selected. (This is the imported path and a set of crop marks.)

Immediately group those objects. [Modify menu: Group]

Select this group and the TIFF. Open the Align panel and center align the path\crop group with the TIFF.

Press TAB or click in an open area to deselect all objects. Select the path\crop group, then ungroup. [Modify menu: Ungroup]

Deselect all objects, then select and delete only the cropmarks.

Select and cut the bitmap [Edit menu: Cut], select the clipping path, and paste inside [Edit menu: Paste-inside]

Make sure the Move panel of the Transform panel has a check in the box titled 'Contents', otherwise if you move the clipped object you will leave the TIFF behind.