Floyd L. Davidson
Let me quote something for you to put some perspective on what makes a photograph:

"When nothing superfluous is included and nothing indispensable left out, one can understand the interrelation of the whole and its parts, as well as the hierarchic scale of importance and power by which some structural features are dominant, others subordinate." Rudolf Arhheim, "Entropy and Art", 1971

The key concept is that each image has parts arranged according to "the hierarchic scale of importance and power by which some structural features are dominant, other subordinate." The photographer is responsible for prioritizing each part and then through composition, content, and other measures placing each item in exactly the right place on that hierarchic scale. That is the way in which pre-visualization, camera work, and post processing are tightly associated, each helping to provide that exactly right arrangement.