[Shana Garrett]

First, Why am I paying a yearly fee for 100G of iCloud "storage" when it is nothing but a sync mirror? I cannot SAVE photos to iCloud and remove them from my iPad mini....which was the entire point of buying iCloud storage....to free up space on my device. If I delete it on the iPad, it is deleted from the iCloud. If I delete a photo from iCloud, it is deleted from my device as well.

I have iCloud Photo Library ON with Optimize iPad Storage Selected. The problem here is that "optimize" decisions are completely left up to the software... So, it packs all available space on our devices with low res thumbnails rather than limiting the amount of device storage occupied by photos to a set value... less than 10% would be great...if only I could choose.

Since we also pay for the family plan and my husband and daughter have Apple devices, I have iCloud Photo Sharing ON....their settings are the same. Shared Photo Stream still indicates that it is occupying device storage space as well as iCloud storage space. The fact that we have multiple people adding photos, and sometimes deleting them (In the false belief that they are only freeing space on their own devices) means a lot of lost pictures, duplicate files, and shuffling apps around
to make space.

HDR Keep Normal Photo is OFF.

There is no simple way to move pictures that I would like to keep available via wi/fi & cellular OFF of a device without taking up my PC storage either... So, what in the heck does the iCloud actually Do ? Why is photo management so cumbersome? Is there a better way to organize and save photographs on Apple devices and cloud services? I have read a dozen blogs and they say the same thing, to turn iCloud Photo Library On w/ optimize selected, but no one seems to have an issue with the fact that you are not actually able to use iCloud storage for storage!

[kataran]

Welcome to iMore

I feel your Frustration and it's been discussed in length here and else were on the web

There are other options for you but I still believe iCloud will work out the issues in time

Here's a full guide to iCloud storage and use

http://m.imore.com/how-use-icloud-ip...and-ipod-touch