My understanding is that it's not really a photo or a veneer. It's a photo-realistic print of an attractive piece of wood. You can't cut wood that thin, and photos would either be too expensive or wouldn't take finish reliably. So, they print the grain/figure out on a substrate they can deal with, bind it to the wood, then finish over all that. It's super-thin, so you don't dare sand it. I imagine finishes are limited to polyester/polyurethane, where you can nail the whole job in a couple coats with little processing after the fact and the underlying "decoration" wouldn't be subject to normal wear and tear.