END OF AN ERA, FRACTALFORUMS.COM IS CONTINUED ON FRACTALFORUMS.ORG

Amazing work! It looks perfectly "natural." Such a lovely, delicate thing...mmm

In my opinion.....

You have basically answered your own question.  In this instance, it takes mathematical instructions performed by computer code to create a true fractal.  Once it has been manipulated by hand with a graphic editor, it still has areas that are fractal in nature, they have fractal aspects, but the total image can NOT be created by a mathematical formula and parameter settings.

At this point, it becomes "fractal art".  Something that was modified to create a more interesting image that the person wanted to express.  The image can be very nice and wonderful to view, as this one, but it is not totally a fractal, only portions of it.  Whether 99.9% is fractal or 1% is fractal, the whole image is not a fractal, if it can not be reproduced exactly with a formula.
 

Many "fractal artists" have been told the best way for their images to be viewed is to have a specific method applied to the rendered fractal:  Make it at least twice as large as the finished image will be shown as, and then reduce it with a graphic editor to half it's size, which basically creates an anti-aliased image.  (Another step that is often used afterward reduction/anti-aliasing is to use a "sharpening" filter on it.)

The altering of the fractal after it has been initially rendered (whether the function has been built into the fractal generator or done in a graphic editor) is still post processing.  "Post" meaning after the fact, and "Processing" meaning to treat, prepare, or put through the steps of a prescribed procedure.

I am not opposed to post-processing nor using anti-aliasing, I have used them myself on many images.  But I do not call them "pure fractals" after they have been modified even slightly.  They have a fractal nature about them, and reflect fractal aspects, but they are no longer the original fractal.
 

Fractal  (Generalized Newton IV) + Paint Shop Pro + own pencildrawing of a horse of my daughter.

Wow that is an amazing image! It needs blowing up to poster size.