It’s rare that Amazon will accept an appeal in this situation BUT… assuming the customer opened a return which you accepted OR didn’t open a return at all… then you have some options which might get you through it.

If the customer opened a return which you accepted within 48 hours:
Appeal the A-to-Z indicating that you requested a photo to help expedite the process, but the customer still had the option to return the item… and you have not yet received the return, you would have refunded once the return was received.

If the customer didn’t open a return at all:
Appeal on the basis that you thought the customer was looking for an alternative resolution rather than a return, you offered them an alternative resolution (photo of the damage) which would have allowed you to confirm the extend of the damage for your couriers/etc. at which point you would have processed a returnless refund… The option to open a return was always available to the customer, but they didn’t so you took this as meaning they did not wish to return the item.

Regardless it’s not an easy claim to win but… should be possible.
If the customer opened a return that you didn’t accept within 48 hours… you can’t possibly win an A-to-Z or appeal.

Kinda related: Our returns are almost all accepted immediately though we have a customised returns message which indicates the customer should provide an image of damage instead of sending the product back… works about 50% of the time.