iCloud Photo Library with Photos

[vjaaan]

If I transfer all of my photos from my external drive into the iCloud Photo Library, will I always have access to the fullsize original photo file when I want to print or use it in any way?

I have heard that what becomes available on each of my devices (MacBook Pro 2010, iPad Air, iPhone 6) would be smaller files for easier viewing or access. But I want to be sure I can get those full files when I want them.

And will any photo taken on any device immediately be available on all devices? And if I want to delete a photo (from everything), can I do that easily by deleting it from one?

Thanks.

 

[sonicrobby]

If you have the option set up to 'optimize device storage', you will pretty much only see the thumbnails. However, you are able to download the originals of these onto those devices.

Correct on the second part, if you have iCloud photo library turned on for all of the devices, they should appear on all of them; deleting them works the same way. In case you delete something you didn't mean to, Apple added a "recently deleted" album to recover pictures deleted in the last 30 days.

 

[vjaaan]

Thank you for the reply. Those thumbnails that we'd be seeing, would they appear every bit as sharp and good as the original size photo, on that device?

I've been reading all the instructions and info I can find on the process of setting up to start using iCloud Photo Library. It is saying all the photos must first be in the Photos Library before they can be uploaded into the iCloud library. Most of my photos, from my iPhoto Library, were moved to an external drive. I was in the process of importing them into a Photos Library, still located on the external. If they are on an external drive, will I still be able to upload every one of them to the cloud? I noticed the other day that none of my newly taken photos traveled through Photo Stream to join those Library photos even though the external was connected and Photos program was open.

 

[sonicrobby]

I believe so. You just need to be connected to the Internet to load the sharp version.

As far as the library store on an external drive. I'm unsure on how that would work. If you keep it connected and let them all upload to iCloud, my guess would be that after that's done it will be ok on all other devices. But if you wanted the pictures taken on the other devices to be saved onto your external, you would have to connect it before opening the app on the Mac. This is all my guess, I don't know for certain how it works with an external.