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The above shot is a classic long exposure and light painting, taken at the start of this year.
The camera is set to manual focus (mostly because the auto-focus struggles in low light).
Time priority of say 30 seconds, a manual flash is triggered to exposure the subject, then you paint in the "art". The beauty of this technique, over say just doing it in Photoshop, is you actually get the correct radiosity off the painted light for free. I think that's what makes these kinds of photos look so compelling.
I realized when describing this technique to a friend, that I have been experimenting with Light Painting for over twenty years now - which was a scary thought. When I started, it was all on film of course, and we had no idea whether it was working how we wanted it or not. You would think I'd have mastered it by now.
Old school, taken on film:
