Here’s an interesting video tutorial by Destin of Smarter Every Day that shows how you can capture amazing photos of guns being fired and their muzzle flashes. Here’s the “basic” idea: he uses a piezoelectric transducer to convert acoustical energy into an electrical pulse, which he sends through a pulse generator. The pulse from the pulse generator is used to trigger a flash and an high-speed exposure. This allows him to photograph guns at the moment they’re fired in the same way many people photograph lightning.
Here are some of the photos he has captured using the setup (you can see more over on Facebook):
The response of the setup is so fast that it can even capture the bullet leaving the chamber!
Image credits: Photographs by Destin of Smarter Every Day