On some occasion, the relation of the secondary subject to the primary is less direct. But they are not there for nothing. When a picture is with a background too plain or too messy, I normally walk the scene or wait until the primary subject can stand out from the background. Among other photographic calculations, I look for the suitable secondary subject to make the composition tick.
In such a situation, I usually need some secondary subject to fill in the background which can as well echo the primary subject. Otherwise, the extra information given by the secondary subject would be less relevant and may be taken as a weakness marring the composition. For that matter, it is best if the camera is fitted with a zoom lens to allow me to trim the background.
Here, the setting is rightly romantic for such a shot of two lovers. But the final image would be bland if the background is left plain without the two boats. Fact is, there were boats moving along the horizon of which one was cut off on purpose so that the two boats could echo the two lovers in some way.
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