Faster than a speeding bullet

Artsology's feature on Dr. Harold Edgerton:

When one hears the phrase: "faster than a speeding bullet," one usually thinks of Superman. But he's just a comic book character, and Artsology wanted to find a real person who was "faster than a speeding bullet." We found him - he's the man at the far right, Dr. Harold Edgerton.

Okay, okay, so Edgerton himself wasn't faster than a speeding bullet. But he developed a technique of taking photographs synchronized with a strobe light flash, which allowed Edgerton to create dramatic stop-action photographs. He was able to create pictures of specific moments - such as a bullet ripping through an apple - that never could have been visualized had they not been captured by his camera.

Superman vs.

Dr. Edgerton

Superman comments on the famous photograph of the bullet piercing the apple by Harold Edgerton

.30 Bullet piercing an apple, 1964, photograph by Dr. Harold Edgerton, with commentary by Superman.

Here's a series of photographs by Harold Edgerton, where the bullet is captured just as it has finished ripping through the playing card. I guess Edgerton was showing his fairness in choosing his playing card victims: the king, queen, and jack all get the same treatment.
Bullet through King, 1964, photograph by Dr. Harold Edgerton	Queen of Hearts playing card hit by a .30 calibre bullet, 1970, photograph by Dr. Harold Edgerton	Bullet Through Jack, 1964, photograph by Dr. Harold Edgerton

Can you spot the bullet in the picture to the immediate right? It has already flown through all 3 balloons, but the first one has reached the state of being shredded, while the second is opening up, and the third has just experienced the passing through.

At far right, Edgerton has captured the result of the bullet passing through a banana.

Harold Edgerton photograph of a bullet passing through 3 balloons

Photograph of bullet piercing through 3 balloons, by Dr. Harold Edgerton

Harold Edgerton photograph of a bullet passing through a banana

Bullet through banana, 1964, photograph by Dr. Harold Edgerton

	Dr. Harold Edgerton considered himself a scientist moreso than an artist, but his eye for composition clearly makes his work very artistic. At left, we see his photograph of a golfer swinging his club, with an effect of the club forming a halo around the golfer. To see how other artists have portrayed movement and motion, click here to view Artsology's study of "Motion in Art".

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