Photography art is the photography-based art of creating a photograph that reflects the creative vision of the photographer as an artist.

Photographic art is considered one of the fine arts and occupies one of the key places in modern popular culture. Photographic art is characterized by a significant variety of technical means and a wealth of visual language. Works of photographic art can be both fiction and artistic document and are contrasted with household and commercial photography, which is used to advertise goods and services.

One historian of photography has argued that "the earliest exponent of 'fine art' or compositional photography was John Edwin Mayall, who displayed daguerreotypes illustrating the Lord's Prayer in 1851.  The transformation of photography into a piece of fine art can be traced back to the Victorian era. A significant role in this was played by: Julia Margaret Cameron, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, Oscar Gustav Reilander and others. Until the end of the 1970s, some genres began to predominate, such as: nudes, portraits and natural landscapes (for example, Ansel Adams). Breakthrough "star" artists of the 1970s and 80s, such as Sally Mann, Robert Mapplethorpe, Robert Farber and Cindy Sherman, still relied heavily on such genres, although they saw them with fresh eyes.

American organizations such as the Aperture Foundation and the Museum of Modern Art have done much to ensure that photography remains at the forefront of the visual arts. The creation of the MOMA Department of Photography in 1940 and the appointment of Beaumont Newhall as the first curator are often cited as an institutional affirmation of photography's status as part of art.

In the modern world, the development of photography is directly related to the advent of digital cameras. With their help, photography has become available to almost anyone. Recently, a huge number of genres and trends in art have appeared, the fashion for photography as part of art is growing. This is facilitated by the constant development of digital photographic equipment, the use of replaceable optics units and their wide selection, extensive opportunities for retouching and changing photographic images in computer editors. Also, the development of photography is facilitated by various simplified ways to access information, every amateur photographer can sign up for thematic courses, classes, studios and get the necessary information about the profession or take them from scratch. With the advent of the World Wide Web, people have the opportunity to find new works and directions, look for colleagues and quickly enter into cooperation, which also undoubtedly helps photography to develop and advance to the masses.