Vintage Fashion Photo Shoot in a Ghost Town: Cinematic Vibes

My Gorgeous Model

I couldn’t do all of this alone, and I was joined by the gorgeous Miss Erika Gray. We had great chemistry throughout this shoot, and her skills as a model are incredible; I was so impressed with her poses. It was also nice to hear her compliment my vision and photography skills when we spoke during the shoot.

Stunning Rustic Props

The natural props that are all across this ghost town are stunning in a rustic way. Some of the shots that I took featured Erika holding an old gas can, next to a vintage gas pump or standing in front of or next to an old car or a historic motel sign.

Utilize Natural Frames

To create an even more cinematic tone for your own photo shoot, whether you’re in a ghost town or another setting, use natural frames like doorways and windows in the foreground and shoot through those with your model on the other side of them. Doing this will not only frame your shot but also create a really nice composition.

Effects of the Wind

Anytime you do outdoor shots, account for the wind, which can help or hurt the quality of your images, depending on what you’re looking for. In many of the ones that I took on this day, Erika’s hair was flying nicely while, at other times, being inside a building with no wind helped create the calmer photos that I was also looking to take.

Importance of Focal Points

When you’re in this type of abandoned or vintage location that has so many details, it can be easy for your shots to get messy because of all of the information that will be in the background if you’re not careful. Instead, use one focal point, like a gas pump, rustic car or motel sign, at a time.

Outfits Should Match and Contrast

Make sure that the outfit that your model’s wearing fits the focal point. At one point in our shoot, Erika had on brownish pants that matched an old gas pump perfectly. In fact, it was an almost exact match, which I didn’t expect. And her top contrasted enough to really make those images pop.

Essentially, ensure that the overall outfit doesn’t blend completely with the rest of the scene and that it also doesn’t fight with it. Instead, it should match the vibe while offering a gentle contrast to it as well.

Use a Shallow Depth of Field

During this type of shoot, I recommend that you use a shallow depth of field, like F 1.8, F 2.0 or F 2.8; most of the shots that I took at Nelson were F 2.2. Doing this will help you reduce distractions in your images and ensure that your model’s the main focus of them.

Otherwise, I used ISO 100 in order to minimize noise. Also, most were shot at either 1/320s, 1/500s, 1/1000s, 1/1600s, 1/2000s, 1/2500s, 1/3200s or 1/4000s to give me variety with light and motion blur while my focal lengths mostly ranged from 28mm-70mm.

Benefits of Sunlight and Shadows

The Nevada desert naturally has harsh sunlight, which can lead to some amazing cinematic shots that incorporate that light and resulting shadows. Those types of images lead and focus the eyes on the main subject, resulting in your model really standing out.

Beware of Cactuses and Snakes

If you’re shooting on location in the Southwest, you should beware of cactuses and snakes.

Cactuses here are potential centerpieces of incredible images, but I don’t recommend touching them, especially chollas. They have pins that will not only pierce your skin but also get stuck there, and you shouldn’t attempt to take them out yourself; that usually only makes things worse. In any case, medicine might be necessary. And this is all so deceptive since chollas are so pretty and kind of cute; they actually look soft and nice.

Also, snakes here can be dangerous. In Nelson, we were told to let them know if we see any and that sightings are pretty common with one or two a week. I’m scared of snakes, so I was on the lookout for them the entire shoot.

Value of Color Correction

Color correction is especially important in a location like Nelson, when you’re doing a vintage Western style of shoot. Warmer tones work well in this setting. Also, you could tone down some colors and pop up others in order to make your images cleaner and more visually engaging and interesting.

If you want to create an especially cinematic vibe, adding noise to the shots during post-production can help that happen.

Also, make sure to control the lighting during the shoot itself if you’re in a setting with a lot of different colors. This will reduce how much color correction you’ll need to do later.

More About Nelson

Where we shot on this day was one of the most fascinating places that I’ve ever been to, my first time in a ghost town like this.

Nelson is a 45-minute drive south from Las Vegas, and it’s existed since the 1800s. Because of its weathered and textured features, which include old wooden buildings and mining equipment, it’s a very photogenic place. Images that you take here will usually look cinematic without any special effort.

But even if you don’t want to take any photos yourself, I recommend that you visit it. It’s an incredible place to visit and walk around.

Other Photo Shoots in the Southwest

This wasn’t the only photo shoot that I did while on my visit to the American Southwest. Actually, it was really good for me to get away from Miami for a bit and head to this incredible and very different part of the country.

My time there started with a seven-day trip to Los Angeles, during which I explored some incredible photo spots, including beaches, studios and city scenes.

While in the area, I spent some time enjoying Malibu’s amazing waves. It was so much fun to incorporate the natural beauty of the California coastline in my photos.

Between L.A. and Vegas, I took some dramatic images at Death Valley’s stunning sand dunes.

And, of course, I had to spend several days in Las Vegas prior to heading south to Nelson Ghost Town to wrap up my time in this region.