Whats the difference between backing up my photos on iPhone and storing them in iCloud?
iCloud Photos is for syncing between your devices and replacing your photos if you lose your device. It retains a full copy of your photos in iCloud (accessible on iCloud.com as well).
iCloud Backup is a one-way backup of your current photo library on your device. It can only be restored by restoring your entire iCloud Backup.
You can safely turn off Photos from your backup - unless you prefer to manually manage your photos, I'd recommend doing this instead of turning off iCloud Photos.
If iCloud Photo Library is on, there will be a note saying &quot;Photo Library is backed up separately as part of iCloud Photos&quot; - if you don't see this message, double check that your device is actually syncing with iCloud Photos. You can do this in the Photos Setting or in iCloud Settings &gt; Photos.