What makes a photo a fineart work?

When you say it is.

The better answer is when others say it is.

That is strictly a judgement of the individual members of the audience who see the work. The photographer's opinion of the work is generally speaking, irrelevant.

Judging by the fine art critique section of photo.net, all it needs is breasts. :-)

When something clicks in the mind of the beholder.

My definition (for submitting to photo.net) is "When it doesn't fit into any of the other categories". Usually meaning, too, that the interest of the photo (or lack thereof) lies in the aesthetic appeal of the photo itself, rather than in the actual subject matter.

When at least one person or body has paid to hang this image on their wall for reasons other than an affinity with the subject shown or the photographer.

Well, take my thoughts here below as a personal opinion. Sometimes I write things that are already settled down, just to bring the information to the person asking for, but this time is strictly about a personal opinion.

So, I employ two steeps:

1) To determine if art or not art (so black or white), I use of two criteria: abstraction and authenticity. These are not in conflict each other, as they belong to two different dichotomies: concrete-abstract and fake-authentic. So, for me art has to be in the same time abstract and authentic.

2) Secondly I determine if good or bad art (here are the grays): if resonates in me at the most basic level of feelings (the mood), than it is the best art ever, but if resonates in me at the highest feelings level (the commitment) than it is just trash. With art is paradoxically reversed to what happens with the personal development: an evolved person reaches the highest levels of feelings, while the best art is the one reaching the basic level.

Well, this is the way it works for me.

It would help if the original poster gave some more direction to the question here, as well.

My previous post (most of which was deleted because it was a response to an also-deleted post) probably bears a little expounding upon.

What I'm saying is that this is a very broad question, which could go in a range of directions. "Fine Art" is largely a collecting term, but it is also a category for images here and a very broad concept in any creative discipline. It is especially tricky for photography, because so much photography lacks even artistic intent (snapshots, etc.). Thus, if you wish to describe a little further what begat the original question, that might give a direction to the post.

Moderator: if you wish to combine the previous post and the middle paragraph here, that would be fine. Sorry I cannot do it myself. Thanks.