Amargosa Opera House

I got the opportunity to shoot inside the Amargosa Opera House, near Death Valley, California. It looks very cool inside, but I found it to be a very difficult shoot. First, this place just sucks up light like no place I've shot it. It was very dark, and any flash you put out seemed to dissipate immediately. The walls were darkly painted this with this glossy paint, so you couldn't shoot against the walls or you'd get an ugly, blinding bright spot. You also couldn't really bounce the flash because the paint caused an awful color cast. I spent the first 30 minutes of the shoot so frustrated, I almost walked out. But, I managed to breathe, focus, and try to arrange what lights I had the best I could.

This was shot with two lights, one speedlight in a 48" octobox on my left, and a bare speedlight on the right illuminating the seats and the models left side. The model's name is Megan, and she's going to be a star, if she wants.

Any C+C would be greatly appreciated. I will be posting more shots as I process them.

IMAGE LINK: https://www.flickr.com​/photos/ponyrojo/31689​250563/

Megan

I love Death Valley Junction. The Marta Beckett story is great and the haunted Amargosa Hotel really adds to it. The hotel and cafe....in fact the whole town is stuck in about 1939. Town population...6. It's quite an experience.

I wanted to go in the opera house but the lady that had the keys was tending to Marta at the time. Waited a while but finally had to move on.

Here's the next shot I've edited.

IMAGE LINK: https://www.flickr.com …585/in/datepost​ed-public/

Katherine

Very nice pictures and lighting.

I was privileged to work with three wonderful models, here is the third.

IMAGE LINK: https://www.flickr.com …605/in/datepost​ed-public/

Ana

These are beautiful shots in what looks like a great venue.

Did you get any more wide angle shots to show how it looked or was it too dark for that?

Unfortunately, I the widest lens I had with me was my 35mm, so I didn't get too many really wide shots. Plus, the walls were painted in this glossy paint, so that any light created this harsh reflection off the walls and looked horrible.

I was there with a couple other photographers, they got some great shots from the stage looking out into the theater, but I didn't get a chance to shoot that for myself.