Any tips on this?

[michaelused]

I thought this could have been a really cool picture, but I feel like it could have came out better. Any tips on how I can improve on photos like this one?

 

[KmH]

The child is under exposed and IMO the composition is to centered. To centered diminishes the interest that an off-center composition can generate from subtle tension and drama.
Composition: Using the Rule of Thirds
photo composition: golden spiral & rule of thirds
Crop Overlays in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom? | Holy Crop!

Since the majority of the scene is light I would bet that you use either Matrix/Evaluative light metering mode or Center-weighted light metering mode. Spot metering mode and/or some exposure compensation (EC) would have been appropriate.

Understanding Camera Metering and Exposure

 

[The_Traveler]

The fence is way too bright - and too much of it, I think.
And the boy's face is too dark and way out of focus.

 

[michaelused]

Thank you for the advice. My camera is on Matrix metering mode. I didn't even think about changing it since every tutorial video or guide said that I would be using this 90% of the time haha.

 

[The_Traveler]

this is the 10% where matrix metering and AF doesn't work.

 

[michaelused]

Btw this is edited. I thought the picture was to dark so I tried to brighten it. Still trying to learn all the editing stuff lol. Here's the original picture.

 

[G2Photo]

The rule of thirds context provided was awesome. I never knew about the spiral one. Thanks for the info on that! Also, I like the idea of the photo above but like everyone else said, the child is way under exposed. Try and get your exposures correct before you try and dive into all the editing tricks on LR and PS. Once you start getting a feel for the camera, hop on youtube and watch some of the Adobe workshops on there.