We have all taken a rushed photo. You see something and want/need a photo of it so you aim and click to capture the photo. What I mean by do not rush a photograph is when you have taken the time to set up a shot and you think all is well and you click the shutter without a second thought. You might do this so you can move on to a new location, maybe your parking meter is close to running out, it doesn’t matter, we have all done it.
For the times we are not rushed, take a moment and think about the image you are trying to create and its composition. Is the horizon level and is there anything distracting in the photo? There are many other things to consider when creating an image but these two are the most common “mistakes” people make especially in landscape photography. The level horizon is pretty self-explanatory. Checking for distractions in your photo is worth a few more words. If you can remove something that is a distraction in your photo by a slight change of location or simply by waiting for the distraction to move out of the frame take the time to do it. It really is worth it.
Take the photo below. Not a fantastic photo and not a really bad photo either but it could have been better. I wanted the focus of the image to be on the circular bike rack and the lines of the wires in the fence. At the time I did not notice the distraction of the man working in the upper left of the frame. Had I waited for him to move out of the frame the photo would have been much stronger.
Creativescans 