Unable to edit any Portrait Photos taken after September 2023 on my MacBook Pro.

FWIW—I realize this is an older thread, but I am having identical and frustrating issues. I am currently using an iPhone 15 Pro and on the phone all the portrait features work fine, but I AirDropped them to my computer, imported them into photos, and even though they are labeled as Portraits and categorized as such, none of the Portrait editing options show up. When I scroll back to find pictures that I took in 2021 with my iPhone 11 Pro however, all of those portrait photos are acting normally on the Mac and the editing functions appear.

On the phone, under the Photo setting the compatibility type was set to Automatic, which imported HEIC content. I tried another AirDrop after I switched it to use Original Resolution which still transferred as HEIC, but still no success. 

Then, for the non-working HEIC photos that I imported into the Mac, I used Photos and Exported them to my Desktop as JPEG’s at Full Size/Original Resolution and re-imported them back into Photos. Now THOSE JPEGs show the Portrait edit features, although the Light option is dimmed. Plus the files went from (1 example) 1.1MB HEIC’s to 9.1MB JPEG’s which is a monstrous amount of data change. Really bizarre stuff…

BTW, the older 2021 Portraits from my 11 Pro are in both HEIC and JPEG formats, and they have all Portrait editing features including the Light option.

FINAL “IT WORKED”  P.S.—-I then put the phone Photo setting back to Automatic, deleted all the problematic photos from the Mac Photos app, quit and restarted the app. Plugged the phone directly into the Mac, opened Photos on Mac, imported them once again……..and now they are working correctly and are small HEIC files! When I chose Edit it actually showed a large, rapidly-filling “pie-filling” icon which took about 2 seconds and then all the Portrait editing features popped up (except Lighting). So strange….maybe Intel vs. Apple Silicon? I’m using a 2.9Mhz I9 processor on a 2018 MacBook Pro. In any case, for my system it appears that AirDrop is not the way to transfer Portraits; the phone needs to be plugged in which is just silly.

Correct. Monterey, Ventura, and Sonoma are the only ones getting updates. If the past is any indication, BIg Sur will only get updates in event a serious security bug is found.

http://www.lemkesoft.com/ has a great inexpensive shareware called GraphicConverter that has many more functions than Photos, and you can use the Edit funciton in Photos to edit the photo directly within GraphicConverter while maintaining your photo in the library using the Image menu -> Edit With function.

There is also MacGimp (do not use the BIttorrent release).

Can you upgrade your Mac to much newer macOS, than Big Sur?

There is the possibility that some of the photos you captured on the iPhone, were captured as HEIF or another format than JPEG. Photos may need the photo exported to JPEG before it can edit its details.

Try Image menu -> Duplicate photo first.

Then try the editing tools. It could be the photo is still locked in "import."

These options may have moved to the Image menu -> Show Edit Tools.

You may want to look at these two Apple Support articles/guide,

Take portraits with your iPhone camera - Apple Support

Edit portraits on iPhone - Apple Support

Adjust Depth Control in portraits

Use the Depth Control slider (on supported models) to adjust the level of background blur in your portraits.

1. Tap any portrait to view it in full screen, then tap Edit.
2. Drag the Depth Control slider to increase or decrease the background blur effect.
3. A white dot marks the original depth value for the photo.
4. Tap Done to save your changes.

Change the Portrait Lighting effect

On models that support Portrait Lighting, you can apply, change, or remove the Portrait Lighting effects in portraits.

1. Tap any portrait to view it in full screen, then tap Edit.
2. Tap , then drag  to choose a lighting effect.

Natural Light: The face is in sharp focus against a blurred background.

• • Studio Light: The face is brightly lit, and the photo has an overall clean look.
  • Contour Light: The face has dramatic shadows with highlights and lowlights.
  • Stage Light: The face is spotlit against a deep black background.
  • Stage Light Mono: The effect is like Stage Light, but the photo is in classic black and white.
  • High-Key Light Mono: Creates a grayscale subject on a white background (on supported models).

1. Note: On iPhone XR, only the front camera supports Natural Light, Studio Light, and Contour Light.
2. Drag the slider left or right to adjust the intensity of the lighting effect.
3. Tap Done to save your changes.

To undo Portrait Lighting after you save, tap Edit, then tap Revert to go back to the original lighting.

Note: To remove Portrait Lighting from a photo, tap Portrait at the top of the screen.

This articles covers editing in Photos on Big Sur,

Change the lighting of a Portrait mode photo in Photos on Mac - Apple Support

I can’t find a reference for editing depth in Photos app version 6 in the guide.

I think Big Sur is not getting any updates now. And, that might be the source of your problem.

Hi and Happy Holidays. What version of Photos are you using? Have you looked to see if there’s an update for Photos on your Mac?

What iPhone and what iOS version?

Mac OS is the operating system on a MacBook Pro, where iOS is the operating system on the iPhone.

On the MacBook Pro, when you open Photos, the Image menu will offer editing options for any selected photo, and the File menu, will give you the option to Export the photo as a different format or Share the photo. I recommend duplicating the photo and giving the duplicate a unique name so you know you plan to edit it.

On iOS on the cell phone there is an option to click on called Edit, in the upper right hand corner after selecting a single photo to make modifications to the photo file itself.

What are you not seeing on either/or?