Light Painting a 2024 Ford Mustang GT Performance
We’ve got another cool light painting project completed! This one is a stunning 2024 Ford Mustang GT Performance in front of Bob and Sharyl’s beautiful home in Fort Myers, Florida.
Everything is all set and ready for the light painting to begin. Just need it to get dark out. I always use this time to capture images of the sky as it goes from day into night.
This cool light painting project was created in Fort Myers, Florida, on our recent trip to participate in the Cars on 5th Concours in Naples, Florida. Joannie and I made the trek in “The Enterprise D”, our fully loaded Honda Odyssey! We had it packed with our light painting display tent, display racks, sample metal prints, light painting camera gear, and everything else but our kitchen sink!
Here’s the “Enterprise D”, all loaded up (and we mean loaded) and on location in Florida!
All told, Joannie and I clocked nearly 4700 miles on this trip! We connected with some great people who have amazing vehicles! We also spent some quality time with our good friends Wayne and Sally, and also with Sally’s brother, Bob, and his wife Sharyl. At Wayne and Sally’s, we relaxed, did a little sightseeing, played some golf, and I had the opportunity to photograph wildlife on several mornings too!
Light Painting in Southern Florida
Light painting in the Minnesota area hasn’t happened since last fall. So it was great to get back in the swing of things in nice warm weather once again. Unfortunately, we did have to cancel plans for two other projects, one in Alabama and the other in North Carolina, due to the really cold weather in both locations. We’ll get those done, hopefully in the springtime.
We’ve already shared our first two Florida light painting projects. The first was an amazing 14-car light painting that we did for our new friend Steve in his amazing garage! Please check out those amazing images and their full story by clicking on this link.
The second, also created for Steve, was of a highly detailed Diorama of Route 66 that he has in that unreal garage! Both of those light paintings turned out so cool! You can see that unusual light painting project by clicking on this link.
Light Painting Bob’s 2024 Ford Mustang GT Performance
While we were staying at Wayne and Sally’s, we went to visit Bob and Sharyl one evening. They only live about 5 minutes away. While there, Bob showed us his new toy, the 2024 Mustang GT. It’s a stunning Dark Matter Grey Metallic with Bronze Package Accents. The Interior color is Emberglo.
It took me about one second to decide that I wanted to light paint that car! However, it took me about two weeks to ask Bob if he was alright with us doing so. And there was a very good reason why.
Here’s the close up view of the Mustang GT before it was light painted.
There Was A Catch
I felt that the best place to create it was with their beautiful home as the backdrop. The problem was that there was a very bright streetlight right across the street from their home. That meant strobing most, if not all, of the project.
While we have done that type of light painting on many occasions, it is very challenging to do with a dark colored car. That’s why it took me almost two weeks to ask Bob. I just wasn’t sure that we could pull it off with all that ambient light hitting the Mustang.
Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Joannie, Bob, and I went at it on our last night in Fort Myers. We started our trip back home about an hour after finishing the light painting photography at Bob and Sheryl’s house. We didn’t travel very far that night, but we hit the road nonetheless.
Here’s the light painting of the Mustang GT, cropped in closer for a good look!
Everything Was Sailing Along Nicely…
Joannie, Bob, and I were cruising right along. We captured a nice sky while waiting for it to get dark. We also light-painted the house and landscaping with no problems. Then, I did a few strobed images of the 2024 Ford Mustang GT Performance. They were okay but not what I was hoping for (although I did use some of them in the final artwork).
I decided to give longer exposures with my light wands a try. I thought that if I went quickly enough, using the lights at full power, I might be able to overpower the street lights. I’m very pleased to say that it worked!
…Then, It Happened!
After light painting the house, the landscaping, and the Mustang GT, all we had left to light paint were the tops of the palm trees. I had waited to do so because it was pretty windy when we started, and I didn’t want them to be blurry, so I waited for the winds to die down after dark.
We had the camera and all of our light painting gear set up across the street. That gave us a great view of their pretty home, with the Mustang posing nicely in the driveway. Then, it happened!
At about 8:15 pm, the city’s boulevard sprinkler system came on! All three of us, the camera, our iPad, and most of our lighting gear, took direct hits! It only took a couple of seconds for all of us to jump into action.
Bob and I put our feet on the two closest sprinkler heads, and Joannie ran across the street and grabbed two of our display tables and placed them on top of the sprinklers as you can see below.
Here you can see one of our display tables that we use at car shows, covering a sprinkler head on the boulevard.
The chaos only lasted about 10 minutes or so, but it will be something that we’ll never forget.
We carefully dried the lens off, shut off all non-essential gear (hoping that nothing would short-out), and finished the project with another strobe light that was nice and dry inside the Odyssey. Once we arrived at our hotel that night, I spread all of our camera and lighting gear out to dry off overnight.
About the 2024 Ford Mustang GT Performance
Here are some of the cool facts about this amazing automobile:
The 2024 Ford Mustang GT has a 5.0-liter V-8 engine, rear wheel drive. It can go from 0 to 60 mph in 3.9 seconds with the 10-speed automatic transmission.
Engine
- 5.0-liter Ti-VCT V-8 engine with port-fueled direct injection
- 480 horsepower and 415 pound-feet of torque
- 486 horsepower with active valve performance exhaust
Transmission
- 6-speed manual transmission with dual mass flywheel, twin disc clutch, and rev matching
- 10-speed automatic transmission
- Dimensions: 189.4 in long, 75.4 in wide without mirrors, 81.9 in wide with mirrors, and 55 in high.
Features
- Raised wedge decklid spoiler
- 12.4 in LCD digital instrument cluster
- Track Apps to display performance metrics
- Performance Pack option with wider wheels and tires, larger Brembo brakes, and MagneRide active-dampening suspension
- Rear-wheel drive, Premium unleaded V-8 engine, and 5.0 L/302 displacement.
Performance
- 19 in Brembo brakes with performance linings and black with white logo brake calipers
- Torsen limited-slip differential
- Wider wheels and tires
- MagneRide active-dampening suspension
- Heavy-duty front springs
- Unique stability control, EPAS, and ABS tuning
- Other features Electric hand-operated parking brake (drift brake), K-brace, and Unique chassis tuning.
- The Performance Pack is intended for drivers who want to take their Mustang to the track or autocross. It also makes a difference when driving on twisty roads.
Mustang GT Performance Package
The GT Performance Package includes an accent-stitched center console lid and an Ebony Black-painted grille with unique tuning, upside sway bars, heavy-duty front springs, Carbonized Grey-Painted Aluminum Wheels (19” x 9” on the front and 19” x 9.5” on the rear), 255/40 tires on the front and 2675/40R19 on the rear.
Here is the finished one-of-a-kind artwork! You would never know that our camera and lighting gear took a shower that night (thankfully)!
2024 Ford Mustang GT Performance – The Movie
As always, I’ve created a short “Build Video” for our YouTube channel that shows the images that I used to create this cool light painting. Then, you’ll see those images “build” into the final image, one at a time. All told, we took 526 images that night and I used about 160 of them to create the final artwork.
If you think this project is pretty cool, please check out our dedicated light painting website at MichaelAndersonLightPainting.com. There are dozens of beautiful light painting projects, including:
- Cool light paintings of construction equipment.
- Police cars and fire trucks.
- Aircraft, restaurants, and other goodies.
- Lots of Corvettes!
- Many other cool cars (including several more Mustangs), trucks, and motorcycles.
- There’s even an entire page of unique light paintings that we created at weddings!
Thank you for reading our post, and have a great day! – M&J
“2024 Ford Mustang GT Performance” © 2025 Michael Anderson Photography