Look up, look down and look all around. Chances are that there are props right in front of you that if included into your photos they could really make them pop.
I consider myself lucky that my birthday falls on July 5th. Lucky because since July 4th is a national holiday my family is almost always able to get together to celebrate. One year I was playing Frisbee with my niece and nephews. While trying to take a picture of my older brother he used the Frisbee as a face shield. That gave me the idea of getting a shot of everyone holding the Frisbee up as a mask.
I try to bring my daughter Lily outside at least twice a day. On a sunny day I had an umbrella to block her from the sun. My mom had the idea to use the colorful umbrella as a background for the photo. So she helped me by holding the umbrella while I took some pictures. They came really out really cool.
On the day of my first practice photo shoot of a couple of friends. I had bought some roses for them to hold to add some romance to the pictures. When we were through we decided to have some fun with Lily. My friend Jill had her lie down in grass and then sprinkled the petals from the roses all around her. The contrast of the grass and all the colors of the rose petals really make her blue eyes pop.
The day finally came when I got my new camera I was so excited I just had to go somewhere to try it out. My friend Daren suggested this small park that he knew about. At the park there was a green storage building where someone had spray painted "memories" on the side of it. I don't condone graffiti in any way but in this case it worked for my picture.