I have tried to sync them back to my itunes, tried to back them up to my computer, and have tried to get them into the current photo stream to no avail.
If the photos are photos that originally have been synced from your computer to the iPhone, they cannot be synced back. Only Photos in the Camera Roll will download to the computer, when you connect the iPhone to USB.
So you have to save the photos to the Camera Roll. And that will require to tap each of the photos.
Do you have iPhoto installed?
Save photos to the Camera Roll on your device
- Tap one or more photos and tap the Share button .
- Tap Camera Roll.
- Confirm or change the photos you want to share:
- Select all the photos in an album or event: Tap All.
- Select a range of photos: Tap Choose Photos, tap Range, tap the first and last photos in the range, and tap Next.
- Tap Camera Roll.
Or try this:
Save photos to your computer using iTunes
- Connect your iOS device to your computer.
- Select a photo, album, event, or journal and tap > iTunes.
- If you selected an album or event, confirm or change the photos you want to share:
- Select all the photos in an album or event: Tap All.
- Select a range of photos: Tap Choose Photos, tap Range, tap the first and last photos in the range, and tap Next.
- In iTunes, select your device (below Devices) and click Apps at the top of the window.
- Below File Sharing, select iPhoto (in Apps).
- Select the Shared Photos folder under iPhoto Documents.
- Click Save To and select the location on your computer where you want to save the photos.
- To view your photos, go to the Finder and look in the location you selected above.