Steven Matrix wrote: then there are ways of manually manipulating the camera so that there would be minimal noise, thereby rendering a clearer photo which will make the pic even more dramatic.
You're correct. I think (and I'll let knight respond more if he wishes to) in this instance that really wasn't possible. From what I understand this shadow figure had been seen on several occasions. But in this instance there was an iPhone present and it was visible just long enough to take 1-2 photos before it disappeared.
This is an instance in which he used what was available at the time, just in order to get some evidence of what was going on. This is an example of a picture which was taken of a visible event, simply in order to document it. In opposition of many of the images which are taken at random, and finding anomalies in the image after the fact.