If there is one area inside the viewfinder that I wish more photographers would give their full attention to, it is the background. I have said on multiple occasions that it’s more important to spend time looking at your background than at the subject who is sitting, standing, hanging, lying, walking, running, tripping, or jumping in front of it. Clean backgrounds are like a clean dinner plate. And if you have ever been served food on a dirty plate, well, you know what you did … and just like a dirty plate, a dirty background is a turnoff, too.