Creative Tip: Make a Space Shuttle Launch Collage!

May 22, 2008

Here’s a cool creative photo tip - make a collage of images from space shuttle launches, and include your children in the shots! Here’s how we did it.

Our first son was born in 2007, and so I decided to capture a shot of him every time the shuttle took off. We did the series for 2 years until our second son was born. There were six launches during that time, and I did miss one of them. Here’s the collage and then I’ll list out some important tips at the bottom:

Here are some things which will help you in doing a series like this:

- Get set up ahead of time. Take several test shots to make sure everything is set! Your aperture will be high because you’ll want to get the subject and the tv in focus.

- You’ll need to watch your exposure because the tv screen will have a tendency to get blown out. So, expose for the tv (or slightly overexposed), and then add flash as necessary.

- A Tivo really helps! It allows you to record the launch, and then replay and pause it so that you can get the perfect shot. I used the Tivo version on about 3 or 4 of the pictures. You can also use a vcr to record the launch and then pause it.

- In case you noticed, shuttle launch numbers don’t necessarily fall in sequence. That’s why STS-120 happened after STS-114.

- In case you forget the details of a particular launch, you can check out NASA’s site which includes launch historical date/information.

What collages have you done? Leave us some details/links to pics in the comments below!