How can I recover lost iCloud photos?

[iMore Question]

So i have a question, I accidentally restored my phone to an old back up and lost my photos. But I know my iCloud would back the photos up because I would check but I don’t understand now why they’re gone. I was told that the iCloud stores the latest back up which is now the one without the pictures, but I don’t see how they could just be gone.

 

[Just_Me_D]

Here’s what iCloud Backup includes

• App data
• Apple Watch backups
• Call history
• Device settings
• Health data
• HomeKit configuration
• Home screen and app organization
• iMessage, text (SMS), and MMS messages
• Photos and videos on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch[SUP]1[/SUP]
• Purchase history from Apple services, like your music, movies, TV shows, apps, and books[SUP]2[/SUP]
• Ringtones
• Visual Voicemail password (requires the SIM card that was in use during backup)

Your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch backup only include information and settings stored on your device. It doesn’t include the information already stored in iCloud, like Contacts, Calendars, Bookmarks, Mail, Notes, shared photos, iCloud Photo Library, My Photo Stream, and files you store in iCloud Drive.
1. If you turn on iCloud Photo Library on your device, your photos and videos are already stored in iCloud, so they aren't included in your iCloud backup.
2. Your iCloud Backup includes information about the content you buy, but not the content itself. When you restore from an iCloud backup, your purchased content is automatically redownloaded from the iTunes Store, App Store, or iBooks Store. Some types of content aren’t downloaded automatically in all countries. Previous purchases might be unavailable if they've been refunded or aren't available in the store. Find out what you can redownload from iTunes in your country and what you can buy from the iTunes Store in your country.

Source: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207428

If you created a recent backup that contains the photos you are missing, simply restore that backup. If those photos were 'synced' to iCloud and you accidentally deleted them, then they will be deleted from iCloud and all other connected devices. login to your iCloud account via a computer to see if the photos are available therein. Check the recently deleted section as well. If they are not there AND if you did not create a backup containing those photos then they are gone!