Photographing a bullet leaving gun

We spent nearly 2 hours today trying to photograph a bullet as it was leaving a pistol. I had camera on burst and no joke must have taken 400 photos today. I had shutter set at 1/800 second and was using my flash too. I figured sooner or later lady luck would show some love to me. No such luck.

I could use some help guys. Thank you in advance.

I hate to break it to you... but i doubt you are going to succeed. Of course that also depends on the bullet velocity... youd have better luck with a slow pellet gun, and if you were shooting more around 1/8000 second. and then it would still like be a matter of luck

a .22 round travels at about 320 meters per second. a 1/8000 exposure lasts around 0.125 ms. I dont particularly want to do the math or conversions... but im pretty sure it doesnt work out in your favour. id say that it works out to the bullet travelling either about 5cm or 5 meters within that exposure time. (im not much of a mathematician LOL). At best with 5cm its just going to be a blur

a pellet gun... shoots at about 150 meters per second... about half that.... so best case scenario you might get less blur... but its a much smaller projectile and not all that thrilling to look at

You also would need to calculate length of barrel into your equation...

You need to use light as your shutter speed. In a darkened area, open shutter, fire gun and trip light source, there are devices for this....see here........
www.diyphotography.net/bullet-photography-at-home

effron wrote: You need to use light as your shutter speed. In a darkened area, open shutter, fire gun and trip light source, there are devices for this....see here........
www.diyphotography.net/bullet-photography-at-home

Well said you cant beat the speed of light [/b][/color]

photobod wrote:

effron wrote: You need to use light as your shutter speed. In a darkened area, open shutter, fire gun and trip light source, there are devices for this....see here........
www.diyphotography.net/bullet-photography-at-home

Well said you cant beat the speed of light [/b][/color]

What about warp drive????

I would love to try this. I have seen photographs of a bullet flying out of a gun, looks so awesome. If you are able to succeed at this, post the photos.

I would just like to point out that in the article he is using an air gun... which has considerably less speed (usually <150m/s) then a full powered handgun or rifle... although he says that a rifle will work... he doesnt list a max speed for a projectile...

And i believe that is because his photography isnt about getting a clear shot of the bullet, its about getting the reaction the bullet causes as it passes through an object.

furthermore, the shots that do contain a semi-clear picture of the bullet, the bullet is captured after it has passed through an object... which can severely slow down the projectiles speed.

As such, i stand by original statement that it will be next to impossible to capture a clear picture of a bullet simply leaving a gun barrel. at least with just a standard dslr.

geoffellis wrote: I would just like to point out that in the article he is using an air gun... which has considerably less speed (usually <150m/s) then a full powered handgun or rifle... although he says that a rifle will work... he doesnt list a max speed for a projectile...

And i believe that is because his photography isnt about getting a clear shot of the bullet, its about getting the reaction the bullet causes as it passes through an object.

furthermore, the shots that do contain a semi-clear picture of the bullet, the bullet is captured after it has passed through an object... which can severely slow down the projectiles speed.

As such, i stand by original statement that it will be next to impossible to capture a clear picture of a bullet simply leaving a gun barrel. at least with just a standard dslr.

True, but the only difference would be the timing of the light trip. Just a bullet hanging in mid air is boring, more interest in it doing its damage. They haven't invented a bullet yet that's faster than light......

more... www.lex-augusteijn.nl/Gallery/High%20speed/Bullets/index.html

There are triggers you can get that will trip the shutter based on sound

I shoot RAW wrote: There are triggers you can get that will trip the shutter based on sound

Here's one, there are more. Can trigger a few different ways, laser beam, sound, sync with speedlight, etc.... www.universaltimer.com/

effron wrote: True, but the only difference would be the timing of the light trip. Just a bullet hanging in mid air is boring, more interest in it doing its damage. They haven't invented a bullet yet that's faster than light......

more... www.lex-augusteijn.nl/Gallery/High%20speed/Bullets/index.html

So maybe im missing something... but i dont see how projectile velocity does not factor into this equation... light is very important... i get that... but i mean in the time that the shutter is open, a high velocity round traveling at say >1000 mps/ 3000fps - wont be anything but a blur at best? I dont think you could capture that by timing the light better? now thats an extreme case... but the same principle applies to slower rounds? just because the bullet is "lit" doesnt make the camera any faster or more capable of capturing such a high velocity? like i said... maybe im missing something...


but i agree about the effect of a bullet... much more interesting... but he specified simply a bullet leaving a gun...

using a strobe light makes the bullet "appear" to be standing still for a few seconds allowing the camera to capture a relatively clear image...it's all about timing the light with the speed of the bullet as it clears the muzzle

and of course using continous mode

Harold Edgerton is known for this - web.mit.edu/Edgerton/ and edgerton-digital-collections.org/galleries/iconic - has a gallery on Bullets and Blasts. Muybridge predates this with stop-motion photography - www.eadweardmuybridge.co.uk .

There are at least a couple of previous threads on this topic, if you search the forums you might find them.

I had seen a video on You Tube on how to photograph bullets before also, I just don't remember what I typed in that it popped up.

This might be something to consider: www.universaltimer.com/

I bought one a few years ago, just be warned that it didn't come with the best directions