Restore deleted photos on iPhone after iCloud backup erased them
I used to have photos in the iPhone and backed up to iCloud. I didn't have enough iCloud storage so I was downloading photos from the iCloud account to my PC then deleting from the iCloud to make storage space available for more iPhone pictures to be uploaded. At some point, I noticed no more photos were in the iPhone, just a few (same from the iCloud). Is it possible that when I erased from iCloud, an automatic backup ran and replaced photos in the iPhone, deleting whatever was there? If so, is there a way to restore them? Found some options on internet that don't seem safe (Photos+, iRecovery - all showing to download from sites like Taptweak.com, appgeeker.com or Plugineasy.com).
thanks!
iPhone 13