Photographers: I need your help!

[Donut]

The hard part will be catching a good image of the muzzel blast while still being able to tell what kind of gun it is, so too slow a shutter speed will blur the gun because of its kick

Which is why you use a flash and drag the shutter. The flash freezes the foreground (shooter, firearm) pre-muzzle flash, and then allows the flame to to develop under it's own light.

Look at Oleg's shot. Does it look "tacky"? As long as you have the white balance set properly - or better yet, shoot it in RAW - the colors are going to come out natural with the flash.

 

[peace]

Canon EOS 650

The Canon EOS 650 is a good film camera but not being digital your success at this experiment will take time.

As some have said a tripod is mandatory, a remote or cable release is a very useful option. I forget what the model # is may be T3 for the EOS 600 series.

I would try it with a flash since it will default to a 1/60 shutter speed. Depending on the available light you could use iso 800 or high speed film.
Then I would try it without the flash at 1/30 with camera set to P mode to give you a corresponding aperture. I would continually try slower and slower shutter speeds in P mode with it setting the corresponding aperture for you each time.

The EOS 650 though not digital is a fully automatic and manual camera capable of very professional results.

These experimental settings are designed to capture the muzzle flash. Capturing the bullet will require very high shutter speeds and is thus left to chance.

 

[chonny]

I have no commentary on how to achieve your desired result but it's a fine opportunity to post a favorite photo: Massad Ayoob firing .357.



Top that!

 

[nwilliams]

As for shooting with a flash I can gaurentee the image Chonny provided was shot without flash, that's how I would want my muzzel blast picture come out. The image that Oleg provided came out nice but it still looks like a normal snapshot with a lot of artificial light, unlike the image above that is just amazing.

Which is why you use a flash and drag the shutter. The flash freezes the foreground (shooter, firearm) pre-muzzle flash, and then allows the flame to to develop under it's own light.

That may work but I'd be surprised if you got artful looking results like in the image above. I would think using natrual light would look better, you don't really want the background or the shooter to dominate the image, if you want to capture the muzzel blast. The image above is exactly how I imagined it to look, if the angle was different you'd probably be able to clearly see the gun to! Thanks for sharing it Peace!

 

[Donut]

The e-mail notification has a different version of your post, but it's not here. Wierd.

But you are 100% right. The method I was talking about wouldn't produce anything like the Ayoob picture above. Then agiain maybe I'm picturing an image that consists of more than just a muzzle flash. Different people, different ideas; It's what makes the world go 'round.

 

[Eyesac]

Holy crap Chonny, that the coolest pic I've ever seen.

 

[Templar223]

I took this one at Knob Creek.

About 1/15th, ISO 1600, f/5.6 ish.

Canon Digital Rebel

Use a reasonably slow speed and have patience (and take lots of pix).

John

 

[Amish_Bill]

I just did something like this -- shooting the flame from experimental flash supressors. Because of the relative lack of flame, we shot in a dark indoor range. The camera was tripod mounted at ISO 3200, F1.4 at 2 seconds.

Phantom:


Prototype with machiining oil and metal residue:

 

[Eyesac]

I'll bet if anyone could get their hands on some blanks it would be a light show...

 

[Oleg Volk]

he image that Oleg provided came out nice but it still looks like a normal snapshot with a lot of artificial light

That's because I was outside with only on-camera flash. Using a slaved unit to provide backlight or sidelight would have made the flash photo seem natural.

 

[Kentak]

Without getting all technical, the easiest method to try would be to fire the gun in the dark with a tripod mounted camera with an open shutter.

If I were setting this up, I would prefocus the camera on the shooter's position, set the self-timer, and have the shutter set up for about a two second exposure. When the shooter hears the shutter trip, he fires the gun before the shutter closes (If two seconds isn't enough, easy enough to go a little longer)

I would bracket the f-stops and see what develops.

That's how I would do it.

K