mail shrinks photo size, how to get it send the actual size?

Hi - 22MB is a heck of a size for a jpg image. 3.5MB is much more realistic. Unless you have Raw files and are trying to attach those. If so, you can't directly in photos - photos assumes you want to send a viewable image, which raw files are not until they've been processed.

If you actually want to send raw, you first need to go to file>export unmodified original - then select a folder to put it in. Once you've done that, you can attach it to mail from there.

If not raw, where are you getting the info it is 22MB?

In Mail, and indeed elsewhere, size refers to the dimensions of the image - length by breadth, measured in pixels.

File size (or 'weight' measured in MB or KB) of a Jpeg is governed by the 'Quality' - higher files size means higher quality i.e less compression.

As Tony says, to access the full file size export the image using the File -> Export command.

Unmodified Original will get you exactly that.

If you select Jpeg then you can change the file size by adjusting the Quality setting in the export dialogue.

Lightroom is exactly the same in this respect as photos.

When you export in either system, you normally export in jpg format - which is a compressed format. You don't need large file size, you need full resolution images. If you export at full size, and maximum quality, no-one will be able to tell the difference from an uncompressed image.

If you *really* want an uncompressed image, then export in 16 bit TIFF format. But I'll be very surprised if you can see the difference in a print.

In fact, if you export at highest quality you'll probably end up with a file larger than the one you imported :)