“Crop Don't Clip”- In other words make your clipped image look like an intentional crop and go in a bit tighter with your final edit.
Look at the original image below and then the final edit. I softened the background using a Gaussian blur and brush technique that I share in my eBook ‘A Guide to Creative Blurs”. Next I cropped in tighter so that my final image didn’t look clipped.
I’m not suggesting that you don’t try to get the shot right in-camera. I’m suggesting that if you miss a shot you may be able to salvage it.
You could stop at the final image or you could continue to process it with a favorite filter or a texture. I chose to add a texture and since my image is nicely ‘prepped” for the texture, it is applied very easily.
Original capture
Final edit with background softening and crop.
Final edit with a texture applied.
PS- The flower is a dahlia.