Light Painting Three Harley-Davidson Motorcycles

In late August, I had the amazing opportunity to light paint three Harley-Davidson Motorcycles at RGV Wing Commemorative Airport (PIL) in Los Fresnos, Texas. I flew into Brownsville to create this project for my friend, Erick.

Earlier that same evening, we light-painted a Cessna 182 at this same location (You can see that image and check out its full story here). And, because the background for that light painting would have had parts of these bikes in it, we didn’t place them for this image until after the Cessna was photographed.

Consequently, since it was made in total darkness, the “setup” shot isn’t that great (actually, it’s terrible). It was basically just an image I made that allowed me to check the spacing on the bikes and set the focus on the camera. It served its purpose well, because the finished image sure is amazing!

The setup photo, taken in the dark, of three Harley Davidson motorcycles. This image was used strictly to check spacing and focus prior to light painting all three bikes and the scene.

The setup photo had to be done after the first light painting of Erick’s Cessna because the bikes would have been partially in the background. It’s not the best setup image, but it served its purpose and let us check the bike spacing and camera focus. In that regard, it was perfect!

From left to right, we have a 2023 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy, a 2025 Harley-Davidson Tri-Glide Ultra, and a 2023 Harley-Davidson Breakout. Each of these bikes has a unique look of its own, and each one is so very cool! Let’s take a closer look at each one.

Light Painting a 2023 Harley Fat Boy

The first of Erick’s three Harley-Davidson Motorcycles is a 2023 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy. It features a Milwaukee-Eight 114 cubic inch V-Twin engine that produces 94 horsepower and 119 ft-lbs of torque. It cruises along with a 6-speed transmission.

A cool light painted photograph of a 2023 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy.

The 2023 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy looks pretty darn cool light light-painted!

This Harley has a low 25.9-inch seat height, and its 65.6-inch wheelbase rides on Michelin Scorcher tires. They’re mounted on 18-inch Lakester disc wheels that give a ground clearance of 4.5 inches. The brakes are front and rear silver-split 7-spoke floating rotors.

The front suspension has 49mm telescopic forks with aluminum triple clamps, and the rear features a hidden, free piston, coil-over monoshock with toolless hydraulic preload adjustment. Fat Boy has a 5-gallon fuel tank and weighs in at 699 pounds.

Light Painting a 2025 Harley Tri-Glide Ultra

Erick’s 2025 Harley-Davidson Tri Glide Ultra features a Twin-Cooled Milwaukee-Eight 114 V-twin engine with 93 hp and 120 ft-lbs of torque. The 6-gallon gas tank supplies the fuel via Electronic Sequential Port Fuel Injection (ESPFI). Like its Fat Boy cousin, it also cruises along with a 6-speed transmission.

A cool light painted photograph of a 2025 Harley-Davidson Tri-Glide Ultra.

The Harley Tri-Glide also looks pretty sweet light light-painted!

It has an integrated parking brake, hand-adjustable emulsion rear suspension, and the front fork has a 9mm dual bending valve. Rider safety enhancements include electronically linked brakes with ABS. This cruiser has 6.8 cubic feet of combined luggage capacity in the trunk and King Tour-Pak.

The black, 7-spoke cast aluminum wheels look amazing! This Harley is 105.1 inches long, and it weighs in at 1237 lbs. The Tri Glide Ultra includes a Boom! Box GTS Infotainment System with four 5.25-inch speakers and a 6.5-inch Full Color TFT display on the dash.

Light Painting a 2023 Harley Breakout

The third of Erick’s three Harley-Davidson Motorcycles is a 2023 Harley-Davidson Breakout. It features a Milwaukee-Eight 117 cubic inch, air-and-oil-cooled, Custom V-Twin Engine that delivers 101 horsepower, and 123 ft-lbs of torque. It has Electronic Sequential Port Fuel Injection (ESPFI), a six-speed Cruise Drive with a belt final drive. The Breakout has a 5-gallon fuel tank.

A cool light painted photograph of a 2023 Harley-Davidson Breakout.

The close-up light painting of Erick’s amazing 2023 Harley-Davidson Breakout!

This Harley has a 2-into-2 staggered exhaust with a catalyst in the muffler. It’s built on a mild-steel tubular frame with a rectangular-section backbone. The 66.7-inch wheelbase rides along on a 21-inch, 26-spoke cast aluminum wheel with a Michelin Scorcher 11 tire on the front, and an 18-inch, 26-spoke cast aluminum wheel with a wide 240mm Michelin Scorcher 11 tire on the rear.

The Breakout features chrome on the exhaust shields, fender supports, side covers, and the Heavy Breather intake. The seat height is 26.2 inches. It also has a new, taller handlebar riser that reduces reach for a more comfortable riding position. An anti-lock braking system is standard, and it has a small, handlebar-mounted LCD that provides essential information. This beauty weighs in at 683 pounds.

The Harley Light Painting

It surprised me that it only took 84 images to get this one “in the can”. I used 49 of those images and 97 layers in Photoshop to complete Erick’s one-of-a-kind artwork that you see below. I just love how it turned out! Everyone should have their motorcycle’s light painted!

A cool light painted photograph of three Harley Davidson motorcycles. From left to right, is a 2023 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy, a 2025 Harley-Davidson Tri-Glide Ultra, and a 2023 Harley-Davidson Breakout.

The finished one-of-a-kind light-painted artwork of Erick’s 3 red hot Harleys. The image was created at RGV Wing Commemorative Airport (PIL) in Los Fresnos, Texas.

Three Harley Davidson Motorcycles – The Movie

As always, we’ve created a short “Build Video” of this cool light painting project for our YouTube channel. It begins with the images that I used to create the main version, then you’ll see it “come to life”, one layer at a time, using Photoshop and several other programs. Both before and after versions will close out the short video. The link to view it is below:

There’s Lots More On Our Light Painting Website

If you think this Harley Davidson light painting looks pretty sweet, then you’re going to love our dedicated Light Painting Website at MichaelAndersonLightPainting.com. There are dozens and dozens of other cool one-of-a-kind light paintings, including:

Thank you so much for reading our story, and have a great day! – M&J

Three Harley-Davidson Motorcycles