unable to use Depth Effect editing in Mac Photos

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Level 1

10 points

unable to use Depth Effect editing in Mac Photos

On my 2017 iMac I'm updated to 13.6.7 and on my iPhone 15 pro it is running 17.5.1.

I have been able in the past to use Photos to edit the 'Depth Effect' on a "Portrait Mode" photo. I have been researching a solution and there are threads and support questions to Apple that are more than 5 years old about this same issue so I'm starting a fresh support thread. I would love a solid answer why Apple hasn't fixed this bug yet?

I have tried many different ways of transferring the photos from my phone to the iMac. I've used a cable, I've airdropped with "All Photos Data," and when it comes over, the option to 'Revert to Original' is there, but there is no slider available to edit the depth of field. Please fix!

iMac 21.5″ 4K, macOS 13.6

Posted on Jul 5, 2024 3:23 PM

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Answer 1

léonie

Level 10

201,823 points

Jul 6, 2024 1:27 AM in response to Andeez76

I just tested on one of my older Macs with Ventura. The Depth Slider is there, when I try to edit a Portrait Mode photo. It takes just some time for the depth controls to appear, if the Photos Library is synching with iCloud Photos. The Depth Map seems to be one of the first candidates to get optimised and removed, if the Mac needs to free storage.

As a test -

I created a new, empty Photos Library, local, not syncing with iCloud and imported a Portrait photo.
Then I opened the photo in Edit mode and clicked the Adjust tab.
I made sure, Portrait button in the lower left corner is highlighted in Yellow, so the Portrait effects are enabled.
Then I scrolled the Adjustments pane all the way down to reveal the Portrait mode controls at the top of the pane, just below the Histogram.
I clicked the disclosure triangle to the left of the caption "Portrait" to reveal the sliders.

Where does it go wrong in your case?

is the Portrait button in Edit mode highlighted in Yellow? Is the bar with portrait effects showing below the imported photo? Does "Portrait" show in the list of Adjustments?

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Answer 2

Yer_Man

Level 10

166,322 points

Jul 5, 2024 4:08 PM in response to Andeez76

I would love a solid answer why Apple hasn't fixed this bug yet?

Then you need to ask Apple. No one replying here knows why Apple does anything. We're just users of the products like you.

Please fix!

Tell Apple:

Feedback - Photos - Apple

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Answer 3

Andeez76 Author

Level 1

10 points

Jul 6, 2024 6:53 AM in response to léonie

Thank you for the excellent suggestions, however none of those worked. What iOS are you running?

I don't have anything in the lower left that says Portrait on a recent portrait photo. I went back and found photos from August '23 that were still depth effect editable and wanted to see when that option went away. Photos from Sept '23 is where the bug started; there was no depth effect option after that. So I then googled "iOS updates from Sept '23" and this is what came up: "It was made publicly available on September 18, 2023, as a free software update for supported iOS devices (see the supported devices section). iOS 17 has received security and bug-fix updates multiple times a month, and feature updates every few months."

After this iOS 17 update, none of my Portrait photos have depth effect editing options anymore. This coincidence doesn't explain why other users have been having this problem for years unless theirs is a different issue, such as how they're transferring the photos.

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unable to use Depth Effect editing in Mac Photos

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