Can i recover deleted photos from my ipad after an ios upgrade back up

I have deleted some photos to make room for an IOS upgrade, only to discover that the automatic backup over wifi was turned off so they weren't backed up anywhere. the Ipad was running IOS6. we updated the software and then went to look at the photos which we couldn't find. we also have dropbox and later photos are there but there seems to be a selection missing.

I bought some software called fonepaw, which found them in the ipad and in the backup that was done when the ipad was updated, we have recovered them but they are only in thumbnail.

a little sad as they were important to my wife, who's iPad it is so any help would be appreciated