Editing RAW files from Apple Photos in other apps

It's a workflow that doesn't make sense.

Both Photos and LRC occupy the same place in the workflow. They are both media managers that use parametric editing that rely on a database to work. Both databases are proprietary and so they do not speak to each other. The Edit In feature assumes that there is one manager and it sends the image to a pixel editor and receives the edited version back. The media manager creates the file and receives it back. That's how it tracks the edited version.

A Raw file is different. It's not even a file really, just a sensor dump from the camera. You cannot save a raw file. Every time you process (or edit) it a new file is created... by the editor, not the media manager. It's effectively a 'Save As' command. So the manager has no way of keeping track of the edited file.

If you did send a Raw to LRC ti would have to be imported, processed and then exported (as the new file), so no manager could track that. As opposed to sending a jpeg to a pixel editor where it's just a simple Save command.

As both Photos and LRC are media managers with parametric editing the bit that makes no sense is trying to use one as a pixel editor, which it is not. Better to pick one horse and ride it.

For my money, and yours, LRC is a far more powerful app, more capable and you're paying for it every month. I'd use that rather than the giveaway that is Photos. If you want to use the Cloud features of Photos then after processing I would export from LIghroom to a folder, then import them to Photos for that.

The alternative? Export the original from photos to the Finder. Import it to LRC. Process it. Export the resulting image to the Finder and then Import it to Photos. What you then do with the copies of the original in the Finder and in LRC, and the copies of the exported version, is up to you.

Has the photo you want to open in the external app already been edited in Photos? If yes, you have to revert it to the original before trying to edit it in an external editor. Otherwise the edited version will be passed as a JPEG to the external editor. But if you revert the photo to the original before calling the editor, the Photos.app will send the RAW file in another lossless format to the external app, usually as a TIFF, when you use Image > Edit with .... These TIFF files will have a very high photometric resolution, just like the original RAW, but will also have a gigantic file size, because Photos will use uncompressed TIFF. For example, I just sent a Panasonic RW2 RAW file with 22MB to the Preview.app. The TIFF opened by Preview has a whopping size of 108MB.

If you are using an external Editor that installs a photo editing extension, like Affinity or Pixelmator, you can call the extension from the drop down menu with the three dots, and the photo editing extension will receive the original RAW file (in macOS 27). How to use the extensions is explained here: Use other apps and editing tools in Photos on Mac - Apple Support (EG)

I don't know it Photoshop or Lightroom Classic are installing photo editing extensions, because I do no longer have these apps installed. Perhaps Yer_Man can tell us if Lightroom offers a photo editing extension for Photos.

As previously mentioned, a RAW file is a file that cannot be directly edited. Generally, "edits" done on RAW files are manipulations of what you see on the screen.

Depending on the app, all those settings and manipulations are saved in either a database managed by an app or in what is known as sidecar files which are text files in some format that contains all the operations that have been done. Some apps do not even save that information.

So, if you where to open a RAW file from photos into another app like Lightroom, nothing you have done in Photos is transferred over unless that file is saved to a some format such as JPEG, TIFF, etc. before being transferred so that all the changes you have made will appear in the other app.

Perhaps Yer_Man can tell us if Lightroom offers a photo editing extension for Photos

It doesn't.