How do I move photos from Photos?

[jclin10]

I'd like to move some photos from Photos to Lightroom. Is there a way for me to move a photo from Photos to another location (like my desktop or a folder) in one step or do I need to export it and then delete it (two steps)?

 

[gilby101]

In Photos "Export unmodified originals" to wherever you want to store your LR photos. Import into LR. Backup your photos (don't forget that step) and LR catalog. And then (when you are convinced all is good) delete from Photos - and, if iCloud synced, they will disappear from Photos on all your devices.

 

[Mike Boreham]

I'd like to move some photos from Photos to Lightroom. Is there a way for me to move a photo from Photos to another location (like my desktop or a folder) in one step or do I need to export it and then delete it (two steps)?

Do you mean "Lightroom" or "Lightroom Classic". I have "Lightroom" on my Mac and "Lightroom Mobile" on my phone and iPad. The Phone will import directly from Photos, and you can chose whether this happens automatically or manually (ie only photos you chose). The photos (and edits) then sync sync automatically to Mac and iPad, and vice versa.

I am pretty sure Lightroom Classic will not work like this but there are people who use both, Lightroom as a front end for getting photos into Classic, but you need to really know what you are doing. A great resource for all these issues is The Lightroom Queen forum but there are LRQ ebooks as well. On the forum you get quick answers from deep experts.

Note Adobe has this article about migrating your whole Photos Library direct to Lightroom. Not completely sure which Lightroom they mean because although they refer to it as Lightroom (ie not Classic) there is mention of catalogs which don't exist in Lightroom. Maybe because article is from 2021 and Adobe has had a major naming fiasco in last few years.

Note the method in that Adobe article and the suggestion by @gilby101 will lose all your edits. To avoid this you could export jpegs instead and import manually into Lightroom.

 

[jclin10]

Lightroom classic

Do you mean "Lightroom" or "Lightroom Classic". I have "Lightroom" on my Mac and "Lightroom Mobile" on my phone and iPad. The Phone will import directly from Photos, and you can chose whether this happens automatically or manually (ie only photos you chose). The photos (and edits) then sync sync automatically to Mac and iPad, and vice versa.

I am pretty sure Lightroom Classic will not work like this but there are people who use both, Lightroom as a front end for getting photos into Classic, but you need to really know what you are doing. A great resource for all these issues is The Lightroom Queen forum but there are LRQ ebooks as well. On the forum you get quick answers from deep experts.

Note Adobe has this article about migrating your whole Photos Library direct to Lightroom. Not completely sure which Lightroom they mean because although they refer to it as Lightroom (ie not Classic) there is mention of catalogs which don't exist in Lightroom. Maybe because article is from 2021 and Adobe has had a major naming fiasco in last few years.

Note the method in that Adobe article and the suggestion by @gilby101 will lose all your edits. To avoid this you could export jpegs instead and import manually into Lightroom.

Lightroom Classic

 

[gilby101]

Note the method in that Adobe article and the suggestion by @gilby101 will lose all your edits. To avoid this you could export jpegs instead and import manually into Lightroom.

Agreed.

I'd like to move some photos from Photos to Lightroom

Either expect to do edits again in LR, or export both originals and edits.

Moving between DAMs is a pain because there are no standards for interchange of editing info. I went through that moving from Aperture to Lightroom (now LR Classic).

Plus, you loose faces and at least some keywording.

 

[jagolden]

If it’s just a hadful of photos, you can just select them in the Photos app and drag them to another folder.
The originals will stay in the Photo app.