Cardinal rules of action photography (and a few correlates)

If you talk to an editor who is reviewing photography for his/her publication, invariably you will come down to these few rules for acceptable images.  These rules should always be in the back of your mind when your eye is in the viewfinder:
1.  "Fill the frame".  This refers to having the subject take up the majority of the space in the image. You leave no doubt what the subject is. 
2.  "Clean up the background"  Your subject should be easily separated from the background behind it.  The background should not be distracting when looking at the subject.  Cleaning up the background can be done in several ways:  decreasing the depth of field to blur whatever is behind the subject, changing your point of view on the subject to get a uniform background, such as sky, field, floor, an empty wall.
3.  Tell a story, convey emotion, make a point. . .the most effective pictures create interest by creating some type of emotion in the viewer, whether it be sadness, joy, wonder, anger or frustration.