How to import and export directly from/to MacBook Air's "Photos" editing software?

[Beebee]

Lightroom Version Number

V 5 for Mac

Operating System

1. macOS 11 Big Sur

Hi all,
Is it possible to import/export directly from cloud based LR into my Macbook Air Photos software as well as to my flickr account?
TIA for your help!

 

[clee01l]

You can only import from/export to a locally attached volume. The Apple Photos app syncs to iCloud just like the your Lightroom app syncs to the Adobe cloud. Your Macbook Air Photos are hidden inside the "Photos Library.photoslibrary" package. Lightroom can not directly access these hidden folders to import . To get to them, you first need to open the package and copy the folder found there named "originals" to a folder accessible by Lightroom.

Files in your Flickr account web site need to be downloaded to a local folder before that can be imported into Lightroom.

Flickr also needs you to export a derivative file (i.e.one edited in Lightroom) to a local folder. From there you can send these files to Flickr in the usual way.

Some alternatives:
I have found that Apple Cloud and Adobe Cloud do not play well together. For that reason I have uninstalled the Photos app on my iMac and do not use it. On my mobile devices, I use the Lightroom app (and Lightroom camera) to import directly into Lightroom (mobile). You can also designate a Lightroom (mobile) album to "auto Add" from the Camera Roll. Doing that, all mobile photos automatically show up in Lightroom.

Flickr is not designed to accept bulk imports from apps like Lightroom . Flickr has lost (for me) its original appeal. Instead of making it easier to add and curate your photos, over time they have made it more difficult. Because of this, I have not used Flickr for years and at one time that was my primary outlet for sharing my images with others. I would suggest an alternative. With your Subscription plan, you have an app and a dedicated website called Portfolio. (portfolio.adobe.com). There you can build you own website with an option to have your own domain name. In Portfolio, you create sub pages from your Lightroom albums. Here is a link to mine: https://cletuslee.work. Except for the optional personal domain name. All of Portfolio is free with your subscription. Registering the optional domain name with a third party registrar is less than $10 annually.

 

[Y.K]

….Your Macbook Air Photos are hidden inside the "Photos Library.photoslibrary" package. Lightroom can not directly access these hidden folders to import . To get to them, you first need to open the package and copy the folder found there named "originals" to a folder accessible by Lightroom.
.

You don’t need to copy the “originals” subfolder to somewhere else. To access this folder from LrC : you right click the Photos Library.photoslibrary to reveal the package content. With LrC open - but not maximized - you open its import dialog. Then you drag, from Finder, the originals folder into the LrC import window. LrC will show you the photos and you can import them in place (using the Add option) You only have to do this dragging once. Next time you want to import fresh photos from Photos Library.photoslibrary you right click the originals folder, in the LrC’s Folder panel and choose synchronize folder. Opt for the option that shows you the import dialog.

 

[Beebee]

You can only import from/export to a locally attached volume. The Apple Photos app syncs to iCloud just like the your Lightroom app syncs to the Adobe cloud. Your Macbook Air Photos are hidden inside the "Photos Library.photoslibrary" package. Lightroom can not directly access these hidden folders to import . To get to them, you first need to open the package and copy the folder found there named "originals" to a folder accessible by Lightroom.

Files in your Flickr account web site need to be downloaded to a local folder before that can be imported into Lightroom.

Flickr also needs you to export a derivative file (i.e.one edited in Lightroom) to a local folder. From there you can send these files to Flickr in the usual way.

Some alternatives:
I have found that Apple Cloud and Adobe Cloud do not play well together. For that reason I have uninstalled the Photos app on my iMac and do not use it. On my mobile devices, I use the Lightroom app (and Lightroom camera) to import directly into Lightroom (mobile). You can also designate a Lightroom (mobile) album to "auto Add" from the Camera Roll. Doing that, all mobile photos automatically show up in Lightroom.

Flickr is not designed to accept bulk imports from apps like Lightroom . Flickr has lost (for me) its original appeal. Instead of making it easier to add and curate your photos, over time they have made it more difficult. Because of this, I have not used Flickr for years and at one time that was my primary outlet for sharing my images with others. I would suggest an alternative. With your Subscription plan, you have an app and a dedicated website called Portfolio. (portfolio.adobe.com). There you can build you own website with an option to have your own domain name. In Portfolio, you create sub pages from your Lightroom albums. Here is a link to mine: https://cletuslee.work. Except for the optional personal domain name. All of Portfolio is free with your subscription. Registering the optional domain name with a third party registrar is less than $10 annually.

Hi Cleetus,
thanks so much for your detailed reply. It's much appreciated.
Yeah, I feared this to be the case. I'm not ready to dump Photos software from my Mac. It works so well with apple cloud, my phone etc. Plus, most of my images don't need the extras that LR offers. And I have no use for their preset filters, ugh! This and the fact that the desktop version of LR for Macs doesn't come with borders, will make me look around for other software. As to flickr, I like my little corner of it very much. Populated by a talented bunch of people from around the world who share, comment on and discuss their images. It took me a while to find such camaraderie on the web, I'm not leaving.
Thanks again, Cleetus!

 

[clee01l]

Hi Cleetus,
thanks so much for your detailed reply. It's much appreciated.
Yeah, I feared this to be the case. I'm not ready to dump Photos software from my Mac. It works so well with apple cloud, my phone etc. Plus, most of my images don't need the extras that LR offers. And I have no use for their preset filters, ugh! This and the fact that the desktop version of LR for Macs doesn't come with borders, will make me look around for other software. As to flickr, I like my little corner of it very much. Populated by a talented bunch of people from around the world who share, comment on and discuss their images. It took me a while to find such camaraderie on the web, I'm not leaving.
Thanks again, Cleetus!

I too am "Apple" everywhere. Yet I don't need two photo image managers. If Apple had kept producing a state of the arts "Aperture" I might have dropped Lightroom by now. Aperture shriveled up and died when both it an Lightroom were at version 3. Lightroom Classic is now at version 11. The Photos app is so inadequate for the Prosumer camera buff.

I think Adobe developed Lightroom that you use to capture a share of the phone "shooter" and "Selphie" market that is the only target that Apple pursues. Adobe did not abandon the part of the market that knows and uses f-stops, shutter speeds and multiple lenses. If you compare Lightroom with the more robust Lightroom Classic, you will find features missing from the former. If you find in the future that Lightroom is missing some feature that you need (Like quality printing), you might consider the "other" Lightroom, Lightroom Classic.
As for using both Photos and Lightroom, I'll leave you with the wisdom of the Ring: "One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, One ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them". Needless to say that one Ring for me is the Lightroom environment, not Apple's