Please can someone tell me how to delete photos from my iPad without removing them from my computer?

Got to Settings > Photos & Camera > Do you have iCloud Photo Library and My Photo Stream turned OFF? Do you have the setting under Settings > iCloud > Photos turned OFF also? If the answers to all of those is yes, then you can delete all or any on your iPad and it will not interfere with your Mac.

If the answer to any is NO, do not turned them OFF. You will need to get familiar with the options of all three before you should act. The following articles should help.... Best.

🙂

Get help with your iCloud Photo Library - Apple Support

http://www.imore.com/how-use-icloud-photo-library-ultimate-guide

Deleting photos from your iPad should not delete them from your computer as long as those photos are actually on your computer. If they are in your photo stream or iCloud copy them to your computer. If they are in the Camera Roll album on your iPad, connect your iPad to your computer and use an image capture or camera application to copy the photos to your computer. Once that is done you can safely remove them from the iPad.

Hi Anna,

Please make sure as Ralph said above that all your photos are safely on the computer and you can view them there without difficulties. Follow his instructions, please. Make sure the 3,500 hundred that are on your iPad are also in your computer as long as the other 30,000. Likely the 30,000 already include the 3,500.

With My Photo Stream ON, you are automatically uploading new photos to iCloud and sending them to all your iCloud devices when they are on Wi-Fi. This can be a real convenience or it can be a nuisance depending on your perspective.

You are using iCloud Drive and you should read the FAQ before you turn it off.

iCloud Drive FAQ - Apple Support

Photos are extra special and here is what I would do. Once you can see that they are ALL on your computer, use an external hard drive to back them up. Your 30-35 thousand photos may well take about 80-100 GBs or even more and these days you can buy a 1 TB external drive for about $60. Then before you do anything, make a backup copy of all your photos to this external drive and you will never lose them, even if the computer crashes. You will then have to decide if the advantages of the iCloud Drive are worth it to you. I do not use iCloud Drive nor Photo Stream so all my pictures are independent in each device. I have all of the items above set to OFF but only you can make that decision once your read what you might be losing.

If you decide to ditch iCloud Drive then make the backup copy above to be safe (the pictures should stay on your computer) and then delete all you want from the iPad.

Cheers....

My pleasure Anna. I have about 30,000 photos myself and would not want to lose them. With your extra backup on the external drive you should be well protected... Enjoy...