There is no such thing as a 'pure' photo, and pretending otherwise is an editorial decision. Our imaging technology collects radiation and we then process that

There is no such thing as a 'pure' photo, and pretending otherwise is an editorial decision. Our imaging technology collects radiation and we then process that signal and re-emit similar radiation. Every step along that process has decisions made about how that step works. And that's not even getting into the fun things we can do by applying our own radiation to reflect off the object! We can do a lot with good lighting. It is nice to have the ability to choose to take more control over automated steps of the process though, especially because modern apple phones have impressive cameras.