I said "usually". Saguaro Shadows Photography just covered a wedding where this wasn't quite true. The bride was a little nervous about the wedding, and when it came time to shoot pre-wedding bridal shots, she changed her mind and didn't want any pictures before the ceremony!
What to do? Well, I spoke her with friends, and let them know this was OK, and it was her decision to make. I didn't try to pressure her at all. So after about 20 minutes, she changed her mind, and came out for some pictures. And we were able to capture some beautiful images:
In this image, the bride was leaning over a railing on the upper level of a patio, and I was down below on a lower patio. By the time we took the shot, it was nearly sunset and the sun had dropped behind the buildings behind the bride. The bride was illuminated with my Voice Activated Lightstand, which was held by my wife to camera right. Shot was taken at ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/500th at 62mm with a Nikon 24-70 f/2.8. The SB-800 was in Manual. In post processing, I used Nik Color Efex Pro to add a little warmth to the light.
The location for the wedding was a restored guest ranch in Tucson, that included some wonderful adobe ruins:
This shot was taken with no artificial lighting, at f/8.0 at 1/125th. I don't usually use this kind of a "desaturation trick", but in this case, it was a good opportunity with her bright red rose bouquet. In post processing, a black and white mask was added with Nik Silver Efex Pro in Photoshop, and the flowers where painted out to let the color come through. The black and white layer was then lowered to an opacity of 77%.
For this wedding, I arrived several hours before the wedding, so I could get familiar with the location. This gave me plenty of time to location 3 or 4 good shooting locations on the property.
The lesson learned at this wedding is to be patient and go with the flow. Opportunities will always present themselves!