how do I remove a photo from an album I created but not delete it?

Select one or more photos in the album and tap the trash bin icon.

Now you should be seeing two options "Remove from Album" and "Delete photo". Tap "Remove from Album" to remove the selected photos from the album, but to keep them in your library.

"Remove from album" is only available for albums you create yourself, not for the albums that Photos screaming automatically. You cannot remove photos from Recents, Imports, All Photos or the Media type albums without deleting the photos completely.

There are NO photos in an Album.

Just references to the photos in your Library.

If you remove a "photo" from an Album it will still be in your Library.

You're welcome. 😊