Fine art photographers have worked with various media and various intentions, to capture the beauty of nature, landscape, society, and the human form.

Fine art photographers are distinct from other kinds of photographic practitioners. While photography is excellent at documenting reality for scientific or journalistic purposes, it also provides ample opportunity for creative expression. Various genres of fine art photography range from tightly controlled technical results, such as the surrealist Jerry Uelsmann to the urban street photography of Judy Dater. Fine art photographers don’t need to use a camera, as demonstrated by the photograms of Man Ray and Robert Rauschenberg. Non-representational photography (sometimes called abstract photography) creates images on photosensitive paper without representing physical objects, sometimes with a camera and sometimes without.

Luminaries of the history of fine art photography include Sally Mann, Ansel Adams, Ruth Bernhard, and Robert Mapplethorpe. The works of fine art photographers are collected as original editions, sold in galleries, at auction, and displayed in museums. Fine art photographs are often sold and collected as original limited editions, open (unnumbered) editions, or one-of-a-kind originals.

The first successful photographic images were produced in the early 18th century, with the Daguerreotype. Although initial challenges were technical in nature, photography has steadily grown as a fine art, with fine art photographers quickly becoming concerned with creative endeavours.

Many, if not most, fine art photographers have created self portraits. Some specialize in the practice. An early example of this was Anne Brigman. Other notable fine art photographers who specialized in self portraits include Cindy Sherman, Francesca Woodman, and Andy Warhol.