Photos

Ah

Zooming in is not an edit - it is just changing the view.

If you want to edit so only the center of the image is left, then you need to use the crop tool. Choose crop from the top of the screen when in edit mode.

Crop and straighten photos in Photos on Mac – Apple Support (UK)

You don't need to save.

The edits are stored in a database as they are made.

If you need a copy of the edited image ouside of photos, use file>export, then choose file type size and quality.

If you use file>export unmodified original - then (and only then) will you get the original picture

The edited photos are NOT stored. Phoots stores the original photo, and a list of the edits you have applied in the database. When you view or export an image, the edits are applied to the original dynamically to give you the edited image.

Export 1 photo should give you the edited version. If it is not, then there is something going wrong. What edits have you made and what are you seeing in the exported photo?

(There is a bug in some versions of (I think) Monteray which is not exporting markups, such as text - other edits, such as colour, contrast, brightness etc should be applied though)