Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Qwerty11

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 1, 2010
230
3
All of a sudden I no longer can alter the portrait mode specific adjustments in Photos on my Mac. However, I can on the phone. On the mac, if I quickly switch to a photo that was taken in portrait mode, the little portrait icon/text appears on the photo and then goes away. I want to be able to change things like the depth of field and the lighting in photos on the mac. Any help?
 
Hmm, very strange. Are you using AirDrop to transfer the photo(s) in question to your Mac? If so, I did find this:


However, the odd thing is that when you AirDrop a photo with that option selected, it actually transfers a folder with 4 files to your Mac if you save it to Downloads:

Screen Shot 2022-10-04 at 11.44.28 AM.png


And I don't know how you're supposed to import that as one package into Photos - dragging the entire folder into Photos doesn't work. However, if instead of downloading the AirDrop photo to Downloads, you can import it directly into Photos. THEN, there's a new button at the top left of the photo when you go to edit it (a white square and a square with no fill). But all that does is switch between the F stop the photo is currently in and the highest F stop. You can't adjust it to any other F stop.

Screen Shot 2022-10-04 at 12.01.07 PM.png


Very odd. Perhaps try importing the photo(s) using a cable instead of AirDrop (if you didn't already) and see if that makes a difference.
 
Are you using iOS 16 on your iPhone and Monterey on your Mac? If so, I'm having the exact same issue when attempting to edit Portrait photos on the Mac Photos app on MacOS 12.6 (Monterey) that were taken on my iPhone 14 Pro Max (iOS 16.0.2) and synced via iCloud Photos.

Older portrait photos taken on iOS 15 with my iPhone 12PM and synced via ICloud Photos have editable portrait features on my MBP. It's only the iOS 16 Portrait photos that don't allow portrait mode editing on the Mac. To test this, I emailed one of the iOS 16 Portrait photos on my Mac back to my 14PM and the Portrait elements are editable on the phone.

My assumption is that the revisions to Portrait mode editing on Mac Photos have not been updated in Monterey, but the data is retained in the photo file. Presumably Ventura's Photos app solves this. Can anyone who's using a Ventura beta confirm?
 
One thing I thought of is it seems like this started happening around the time I started testing the public betas of IOS. I wonder if that is to blame?
 
One thing I thought of is it seems like this started happening around the time I started testing the public betas of IOS. I wonder if that is to blame?
Try emailing one of the portrait photos that synced to your Mac through iCloud Photos back to your phone. I suspect you’ll find its portrait data is editable back on the iPhone.
 
I have the same! Suddenly, I can't edit portrait photos in MAC with Monterey 12.6.1!

Tested and I can confirm it applies to all portrait photos take prior to iOS 16. I checked some portrait photos take when my iPhone was on iOS15 and I can edit portrait options on my mac mini with no issues. But every portrait photo take after iOS 16 upgrade does not display option for editing portrait's depth of field.

Exporting unmodified photo, creating copy and importing again to Photos app does not make any difference

:(
 
  • Wow
Reactions: foliovision
Hi, I'm having the same issue here, even after updating iPhone, iPad and Mac. I can edit portrait photos on the iPhone 14 Pro Max but not on the iPad or Mac? Does anyone know about this issue or a fix?
 
I'm in this predicament and have no useful way to edit Portraits on Monterey. On old Portraits shot under iOS 14 on an iPhone Pro Max 11, depth is editable. On new Portraits shot on an iPhone Pro 14 or (current) iPhone Pro 13, with versions of iOS from 15 to 17, depth cannot be edited.

How Apple has become the king of incompatibility! If anyone has any idea how to make depth editable again in Photos on Monterey please let me know. Thanks.
 
I have the same problem with Ventura. I found that several photos I took on the iPhone in Portrait mode had "portrait off" in the portrait drop-down menu for some inexplicable reason – why is it possible to deliberately choose Portrait mode with the portrait effect turned off? But even with it turned on, and working on the iPhone, when it is synched to the Mac Studio with iCloud, the photo shows Portrait mode, but there is no option to adjust the bokeh or lighting in Edit mode. This is true even if I have adjusted the ƒ stop on the iPhone!
 
I have the same problem with Ventura. I found that several photos I took on the iPhone in Portrait mode had "portrait off" in the portrait drop-down menu for some inexplicable reason – why is it possible to deliberately choose Portrait mode with the portrait effect turned off? But even with it turned on, and working on the iPhone, when it is synched to the Mac Studio with iCloud, the photo shows Portrait mode, but there is no option to adjust the bokeh or lighting in Edit mode. This is true even if I have adjusted the ƒ stop on the iPhone!
On a Ventura test install (I've set i[ my Studio from multiple external drives like in the good old days), it's necessary:
  1. to open a portrait photo
  2. press the big Revert button (black) on the top left (even though it's never been touched)
  3. close the photo
  4. re-open the photo
At this point Portrait Mode is available. Whoever is designing workflow for Apple Photos should be fired. What was faster was to mirror my iPhone screen to either my 43 inch desktop monitor or my 4K projector and make the changes on the iPhone. I'd far rather have my Photos "just work" and be able to work on them on desktop but it appears, "just works" is no longer the Apple way.
 
On a Ventura test install (I've set i[ my Studio from multiple external drives like in the good old days), it's necessary:
  1. to open a portrait photo
  2. press the big Revert button (black) on the top left (even though it's never been touched)
  3. close the photo
  4. re-open the photo
At this point Portrait Mode is available. Whoever is designing workflow for Apple Photos should be fired. What was faster was to mirror my iPhone screen to either my 43 inch desktop monitor or my 4K projector and make the changes on the iPhone. I'd far rather have my Photos "just work" and be able to work on them on desktop but it appears, "just works" is no longer the Apple way.
I'm glad this worked for you. I'm assuming you meant to open a portrait photo in Edit mode, since otherwise the "Revert to Original" box isn't visible. But that box doesn't appear in any photos which I haven't already edited, and reverting doesn't bring up the portrait editing choices. By the way, photos I took in portrait mode before I updated to Ventura work as expected in the Photos app.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: foliovision
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.