Yes, Gnome is context aware if you ctrl+c a an image file, and you paste it to a text editor it will paste it as a path, if you paste it in an image editor it will be pasted as an image, if the program supports it (e.g. it works in Krita, but not in Pinta)
Drag and drop is not working because of Wayland. Between 2 windows of the same app, e.g. Nautilus it’s working.