In Mac Photos app, is there a way to save an edited (typically cropped) version of a photo as a new, original photo? For reasons too time-consuming and pedantic to explain, keeping the original is causing issues and I need a workaround. The only way I can think of is to export it and then import it, which is a bit more time-consuming than I'd like.
iMac (2017 – 2020)
No because Photos is a DAM (Digital Asset Management) app and always keeps the original/source file as the digital negative. When you crop a photo you're not creating another file in the library because the edits are saved to the database and applied to the preview and thumbnail versions of the photo and to the exported edited version of the photo.
Thanks, that's kind of what I figured. What DOES seem to work is exporting the edited photo (choosing settings other than the original, unedited one), deleting that copy from the library and then importing the exported one. But it's too time-consuming to be done for frequently/often.
That way you're increasing the size of the library.
Isn't that inevitable, though, if you want to have two images in your library that are based on the same original? For example, one in portrait and another in landscape?
You can do that. Control (right) - click on the photo and select Duplicate from the contextual menu. Then edit the duplicate:
Saving a cropped photo, discarding original
