I just bought a new macbook air. Up to this point I've been using an iPhone 5S, a new iPad mini (the 3 I think? I just got it back in May), and a 2012 macbook pro. I've been using iPhoto so "photos" is new to me, and it is somewhat hard to search for for help on these forums because it is such a popular term. So I apologize if this has been asked and answered a million times already.
I'm not sure if what I want to do is possible or not, but what I would like to be able to do is auto download photos from the iCloud photos onto my mac but then delete the ones I don't want to keep from my mac but not from the iCloud. I don't need every photo taken on my phone stored on my mac. Is this even possible? If not, is there are "reason" that can at least alleviate the frustration I seem to have about it? For example, I have screenshots on my phone of various things that I may keep for reference for awhile but I do not need them all downloaded onto my macbook. But I'd like my "good" photos to be downloaded onto my macbook. I'd like to choose which ones do NOT get downloaded vs which ones do, if possible. If not, is there another way to accomplish this? This is how I used photo stream in the past- all photos would download and I'd go through and delete the ones I don't need to keep; but some were useful to still have on my phone and in the photo stream.
Alternatively, if I just have every photo upload to iCloud and not auto downloaded onto my mac, can I then manually choose the ones I want to save/ download to my mac (really, I don't trust iCloud to not lose important photos, so I'd like them stored locally as well- just not every single photo).
I'm not sure if what I want to do is possible or not, but what I would like to be able to do is auto download photos from the iCloud photos onto my mac but then delete the ones I don't want to keep from my mac but not from the iCloud. I don't need every photo taken on my phone stored on my mac. Is this even possible? If not, is there are "reason" that can at least alleviate the frustration I seem to have about it? For example, I have screenshots on my phone of various things that I may keep for reference for awhile but I do not need them all downloaded onto my macbook. But I'd like my "good" photos to be downloaded onto my macbook. I'd like to choose which ones do NOT get downloaded vs which ones do, if possible. If not, is there another way to accomplish this? This is how I used photo stream in the past- all photos would download and I'd go through and delete the ones I don't need to keep; but some were useful to still have on my phone and in the photo stream.
Alternatively, if I just have every photo upload to iCloud and not auto downloaded onto my mac, can I then manually choose the ones I want to save/ download to my mac (really, I don't trust iCloud to not lose important photos, so I'd like them stored locally as well- just not every single photo).