John, I'm sure this is a photo these sisters will cherish for a long time. The following are some points for consideration:
1. You don't state whether you used fill flash or a reflector. I like the exposure on the face and the fact that the eyes are nicely illuminated; however, I believe the photo is slightly overexposed . . . some detail in the dress is lost. When I looked at your histogram in LR, it's to the far right . . . when I decreased the exposure, it brought back more of the ruffles and was much more pleasing in terms of lighting.
2. One of the most difficult things in wedding photography is directing the subjects on how to pose. Unfortunately, it is part of your job. One of the things that brides and bridesmaids do is hold the bouquet as if they're holding an axe . . . especially noticeable in the sister to the bride's left. The way to avoid this is ask them to tilt the bouquet toward you so the stems are hidden and so are their "fists" LOL
3. The bride is in a very awkward pose. Her shoulders are scrunched in and it's difficult to tell whether the arm in between her and the sister to her right is her arm or that of the sister. Also, she appears to have finger stubs instead of fingers on the left hand. The fingers should be elongated and all visible . . .ballet hands. Sometimes it helps to give them something to do with their hands, like smooth the fabric, or something else.
I like the shooting angle . . . a little different and made for a nice backdrop. I look forward to seeing more of your work. As in everything we do, the devil is in the details, one of the most difficult details to deal with is graceful posing when you're pressed for time.
So based on the 12 elements of a merit image, I would score this 10/12 . . . 1 point lost for overexposure/lighting, and 1 point for technique, referring to posing which is part of your job.
Nice work, John!
