It seems that photos has to reside on my Mac Studio hard disk in the pictures folder. It takes up a large amount of GB space. Is there a reason for this and how do I address decreasing the load on the internal drive?
iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 12.6
iCloud Photos Optimize Storage option can reduce the space needed if your drive is low on storage. To reduce the space needed for Photos, see the following from Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support
iCloud Photos keeps all your photos and videos in their original, high-resolution version. To save storage space on your device, you can turn on Optimize Storage.
If you turn on Optimize Storage, iCloud Photos automatically manages the size of your library on your device. Your original photos and videos are stored in iCloud and space-saving versions are kept on your device. Your library is optimized only when you need space, starting with the photos and videos you access least. You can download the original photos and videos over Wi-Fi or cellular when you need them.
Another option: Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support
iCloud Photos Optimize Storage option can reduce the space needed if your drive is low on storage. To reduce the space needed for Photos, see the following from Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support
iCloud Photos keeps all your photos and videos in their original, high-resolution version. To save storage space on your device, you can turn on Optimize Storage.
If you turn on Optimize Storage, iCloud Photos automatically manages the size of your library on your device. Your original photos and videos are stored in iCloud and space-saving versions are kept on your device. Your library is optimized only when you need space, starting with the photos and videos you access least. You can download the original photos and videos over Wi-Fi or cellular when you need them.
Another option: Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support
What does the Info pane for the library indicate as its size.
It shows that the photos folder is 165 GB.
How many photos and videos are in the library.
My 181.4 GB library has 54,621 photos and 861 videos.
My Photos folder in the system is using 300 gb of storage. It is using up my storage capability on the hard disk. How can that be solved?
