Method and systems for ballistics imaging and comparison

A method comprising:

• providing a first amount of illumination light to a cartridge base of a first spent firearm cartridge at a first illumination instance, the first amount of light provided by a first combination of a plurality of illumination devices disposed at different locations with respect to the cartridge base;
• providing a second amount of illumination light to the cartridge base at a second illumination instance, the second amount of light provided by a second combination of the plurality of illumination devices;
• capturing one or more images of the cartridge base in response to the first illumination instance and one or more images of the cartridge base in response to the second illumination instance;
• and
• storing the one or more images of the cartridge base captured at each of the first and second illumination instances.

A ballistics imaging and analysis system comprising:

• an illuminator including a plurality of illumination devices disposed at different locations with respect to a cartridge base of a first spent firearm cartridge, the illuminator providing a first amount of illumination light to the cartridge base at a first illumination instance and a second amount of illumination light to the cartridge base at a second illumination instance, wherein the first amount of light is provided by a first combination of the plurality of illumination devices, and wherein the second amount of light is provided by a second combination of the plurality illumination devices;
• an imaging device including a visible light sensor configured to capture one or more images of the cartridge base in response to the first illumination instance and one or more images of the cartridge base in response to the second illumination instance;
• and
• a computer system comprising:
• one or more processors;
• and
• an amount of memory storing an amount of program code that when executed by the one or more processors causes the one or more processors to:
• store the one or more images of the cartridge base captured by the imaging device at each of the first and second illumination instances;
• locate one or more regions of impact of a strike of a firing pin of a first firearm employed to discharge the first spent firearm cartridge within each of the one or more images at each of the first and second illumination instances;
• and
• determine a first set of image features indicative of the impact of the strike of the firing pin of the first firearm from the one or more images at both the first and second illumination instances.