CC please

cc please

Focus and exposure look good; but I don't like the wide-angle distortion, especially for the guy on the right. In this situation I'd pose them closer together to avoid wide-angle lens. Put a jacket on the groom to make him stand out and place his arm around her waist thus closer. Have the other guys with their right hands on the shoulder of the guy to the right (to get them squeezed together) Girls can place their hands around the waists of girls on their left.
In this shot, you could crop out the barrel on the left too.

The women line up nicely by height; the men don't. Only about half the crew are looking at the camera. I agree with Qbx that the B & G should touch, not necessarily arm around waist, but something. Hand position isn't uniform among the bridesmaids.

Line of men looks much longer than line of women. (It doesn't help that the men are all dressed alike.) Are the guys really that much wider? No, they face the camera almost full on, while the women stand more angled, with a shoulder in front. Was centering the bride, not the couple, under the drapery a conscious choice?

There are some small pieces of litter on the floor.

Lighting seems a little harsh; I don't know what your options were for it. Generally, the room gives an impression of being less than ideal for this kind of shot.

I don't mind the confetti on the ground. Its a celebration... confetti emphasizes that. It is obviously a more casual venue... so it works fine in this setting.

But everything is horribly unbalanced. It looks like you felt rushed in taking the shot, didn't have time to get the bride and groom centered under the arch, and have the men tighten up. They are standing shoulder to shoulder, almost flat to the camera. Not often is that the best look. Because of that their line looks to be 50% wider than the ladies side.

Next time just tighten it up. The ladies looked like they knew how to do this. Tight. Angled. The bride and groom probably would have benefitted from being slightly angled towards each other. Guys should mirror the young ladies.

Group formals are hard. You have to be able to take the time to do it right. IF you are going to a "formal", take time to pose and position everyone and balance the line. If you find that for what ever reason you don't have a group that lends itself to doing formal lines, be willing to do something intentionally off balanced. Just do a yahoo/google search for "wedding group shot".... lots of examples of unbalanced lines done well.

Good critiques here.

I'm wondering where your blacks are. Did you mean to crush them?
I think if you brought down the white a bit and bring back the blacks it might help a bit.

Qbx wrote in post #18922767
Focus and exposure look good...

Nope. Exposure was way off and the highlights were blown. Blown awaaaaaaay. At least it looks like judging by the faces and shadows - they're all red and burned. Shadows are non-existent in their natural sense. If there is no other way and you have to give this image away, I would recommend some split-toning first and then decrease the saturation, especially in reds/oranges/yellows - play with them. It will make an image a tad artsy-fartsy, but overall impression will be def better.

olafs osh wrote in post #18930707
Nope. Exposure was way off and the highlights were blown. Blown awaaaaaaay. At least it looks like judging by the faces and shadows - they're all red and burned. Shadows are non-existent in their natural sense. If there is no other way and you have to give this image away, I would recommend some split-toning first and then decrease the saturation, especially in reds/oranges/yellows - play with them. It will make an image a tad artsy-fartsy, but overall impression will be def better.

QBX... a lot of your stuff comes across on my monitor as being a bit hot with blown highlights... you may just want to check your calibration. That said, its pretty common here on POTN, so maybe its a POTN thing. Don't know. A lot of people try to create a lot of POP with their images, and it seems they take the whites just a but up too high.

Just my opinion... for what its worth.... ; )

Lovely picture. Excuse my arrogance, I would just tell what my first impression at the look at this picture. One Beatles song..
And I want his shoe in the frame. Then it will be perfect slice of modern society...

Question --------------- did you leave the lens hood off the lens?

Thought --------------- not sure if it's a wide angle lens, but probably. A variation is overlapping and grouping them tighter so more can get cropped or not have the thickest people so close to the edge.