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That time of year you need two things: water and shade. Neither exist naturally there so be prepared to bring your own.
Mornings and evenings will be fine that time of year, the middle of the day will still be rather hot at that elevation. If you bring water and shade with you, no problem. If you try to do a lot of ambitious hiking and don't have enough water at mid-day you will be in trouble.
I would strongly recommend following the advice of spending the night out there. You probably don't want to do the drive both ways in the dark. It is a long drive as well and you don't want to be rushing to get there before sunrise or rushing back after a long tiring day. And you'll never get a good sunrise shot without scouting it in the light first.
Do Scotty's Castle first thing in the morning. Take a leisurely drive out mid-day. Take a little time to find the campground as you will be returning to it in the dark after your shoot and the road does branch a few times at that end of the valley.
Explore the playa. It will be hot, but not lethally so at that elevation. Bring plenty of water - and drink it even if you don't feel you need to. Bring an umbrella - you will want the shade. You've got two sunset times to photograph, and they are actually a few hours apart. Lowest angle direct light on the playa, gives great relief and shadows and happens quite a bit before sunset - the mountains nearby are quite high. Second, twilight and deep twilight when the sky is nice. These two periods will be separated by a couple hours probably. Fortunately this in between period the playa is in shade and is quite pleasant (if you are drinking plenty of fluids and dressed appropriately).
Go to camp, get a good nights rest. Come back in the morning and take your morning shots. Make a leisurely drive.
Will it be hot, uncomfortable, dangerous? Not really possible to answer well. Problem one is weather varies a lot out there, 20F variation in the daily high is not unusual for that time of year. Could be really pleasant, could be quite warm.
More importantly, the largest variable in comfort and safety is you...
You can tell who seasoned, experienced Mojave desert hikers are. They have light colored, light weight long sleeved shirts. They have light colored, light weight long pants. All clothing is cotton. They have the largest sun hats imaginable. They carry umbrellas. They carry plenty of water.
Unfortunately no outdoor company makes anything at all appropriate as such - it is all geared for wet climates and made from materials that are typically too dark (absorb too much heat, often even the lightest available colors these days as outdoor fashion has gone saturated earth tone), too heavy (marketing calls it durable, desert hikers call it heat stroke), the wrong materials (vapor transport is the key to heat management in the Mojave, all outdoor gear these days is made with synthetics to protect from hypothermia in summer mountain climates - totally wrong for the Mojave where you want maximum vapor flow from your skin to manage heat) and often short sleeved. The physics of sleeve and pant length in the Mojave is simple - all skin covered in light weight, light colored cotton. Even if you have a fair complexion like me the amount of heat transport into your body from solar radiation directly on your skin is significantly higher than when reflected from a light colored fabric covering the skin. As long as said fabric is loose fitting and has good vapor transport (i.e cotton) you are far better off with long sleeves and long pants. Short sleeves and short pants would of course be excellent if you were in the shade - which unfortunately there is none of in the Mojave. And an umbrella is absolutely wonderful - like air conditioning - as portable shade but it also can get windy out there in which case all body covering clothing is the only good option.
So, imagine two people walking onto the playa at noon.
One is dressed as above and drinks lots of water. His skin will be dry but actually enormous amounts of water are directly evaporating from his pores keeping him cool. He is replenishing that water by drinking, making sure he is drinking enough that he is peeing regularly. His skin temperature is low because it isn't in direct sunlight (under light colored long sleeves) and can evaporatively cool with efficient vapor transport (loose fitting, light weight, cotton). Wind permitting he deploys his umbrella and is constantly aware of its position relative to the sun to maximize the amount of his body under shade. He is comfortable, can stay and explore indefinitely and is the definition of a "happy camper".
The other is wearing black synthetic running shorts and a orange short sleeve running/biking/hiking or other "technical" shirt made of synthetics (market as "breathable" but in fact vapor transport way below that of cotton) - the latest and greatest "hot weather" outdoor gear from REI. And he wears a baseball cap. He carries a half liter bottle of water with him. This person is uncomfortably hot within ten minutes. He has way to high a solar load on his exposed skin for even wide open pores to keep things cool enough. Under his shirt things are worse, especially if he exerts himself at all. The orange color absorbs too much solar radiation and the synthetic material doesn't transport enough moisture. His skin under the shirt is wet and sweaty - a sure sign heat and vapor transport are compromised. He actually doesn't feel thirsty at all yet, and saves his half liter for later. Nonetheless, his body is already dehydrating and as a result staring to shut pores that further reduce cooling and he gets more and more uncomfortable. In a more extreme case he is at risk of more than just his comfort.
Two people, same place, same time, same physical fitness. One is safe and comfortable, the other not at all. And the one that is unhappy has done what in his mind is actually pretty sensible (expensive outdoor clothing supposedly meant for this environment and common sense measures like short sleeves - and heck, he's never seen someone in an outdoor magazine or REI catalog carrying an umbrella).
Anyway - that was really long winded. Sorry. The point is, if you think it through, do some planning, center your itinerary around a safe drive and spending your outdoor times in the evening, night and morning as well as preparing (clothing, water) you should have a really fun time. On the other extreme if the weather is hotter than normal and you combine doing some unwise things with some bad luck you could be in big trouble. In between those two extremes are a lot of uncomfortable but survivable options. That's why you will find widely varying opinions and advice on your trip!
I really hope you enjoy it out there. It is a beautiful place. I will mention that the rocks have been rather static for a few years with the tracks getting fainter (at least as of March and I don't think any weather that would change that has come through since). So as far as compositions go you'll need to look for the fresher tracks and try to emphasize the slowly fading relief of the tracks.
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