5. WRONG BACKGROUND

Now the pose is better. The facial expression is pretty good. The wardrobe is spot on.

The background ... is all wrong.

A lot of photographers, especially those immersed in the world of portrait photography, favor a brown background. The problem is that brown is a leisure color. It's often unsuitable for business photos.

And research has shown that brown also undermines trustworthiness. Strange, but true. And why would you do anything that could potentially make you seem less trustworthy?