Do you like “find the hidden object” games? Of course you do, and that’s how you can up your photography game!
Whenever you look through the viewfinder of your camera or the screen on your phone, scan the background and foreground. The first picture I’ve marked up has a few items that can be distracting (which is why I took it there). Just a quick look around can really help out your work. Don’t become so focused on the subject of your photo that you forget everything else in it.
That doesn’t mean every item that sneaks in is bad nor does that mean having things show up mean the picture is “ruined.” For example, cars can be great in photos, depending on the car and the way the car looks in the background or foreground. Another example, that flagpole could be used as a leading line if it weren’t intersecting her arm. Hoses generally never look good, and trees can be out of season just not broken in half unless that’s the photo you are going for.
Basically, think about where the eye is going to on the picture. Is it going to the person you photographed? Or is it going to a distracting part of the photo? Remember, once someone notices that sore spot sticking out, that is all they will see. So just take that extra time and deal with it.
Of course, you could edit it out, but that takes time and time adds up. I constantly tell people time is one of your most valuable assets – you can go work at McDonalds and earn back money you wasted, you can’t go work anywhere and earn back time you spent. So you can edit stuff out, but if you spend hours doing so, you might be better off just working on watching your foregrounds and backgrounds.
Anyway, my subject here needed some model photos for something she is trying to work towards. Modelling work isn’t my forte. Family, events, theatre photography, actor headshots; that’s more in my wheelhouse. But I gave it my best attempt on a cloudy day and the work I did turned out to her liking.