I wasn't sure what to expect - but it looks ... different from what i thought it would turn out into. Nevertheless, it is an interesting area of photographic experimentation. We did the light painting "on-the-fly", right after Sal took his last bite of his lunch. The background light in the room was a bit too strong (subdued), where some details in the room still came through (but i took them away in the final image). So, next time it needs to be slightly darker. Of course I used the Olympus "Live Comp" setting, in order to make longtime exposures.

A few other cameras have it too (Live Comp)

By the way, it isn't just Olympus who has this type of exposure setting. Also some Panasonic cameras appear to have it: Panasonic S5 II X, S5 II, S5, GH7, G9 II, G97, S9, G95, G100, Sigma BF, and of course most Olympus / OM cameras has it down to the more smaller compact cameras TG-6, as well E-PL-8, PL-7, PL-9.

A bit surprizing, that the Sigma BF supposedly has that setting.

Mobile phone camera apps

There are several camera "longtime exposure" apps which can do similar things like highlight added longtime exposures, without that the shadows get overexposed. I never liked it, partially because of that weird threshold effect, and the lack of high resolution (back then). SO, i stick to my Olympus cameras, instead.

Using other cameras...

Howebver, when I wish to use my Canon EOS R6, or the mediumformat Fujifilm GFX 50s II - then i can only do longtime exposures in "B" mode: which means the traditional way of longtime exposure since for ever: the longer you keep the shutter open - the longer the exposure; the brighter the image becomes, including shadows.

The "Live Comp" longtime exposure setting work like this: you first take an "average" exposure first in which the camera determines an average low light exposure - then you take the second image and make sure that the camera shutter STAYS OPEN (you need for an Olympus camera a trigger cord which allows the shutter to stay open all the time). From that moment on, the camera then only exposes for any additional highlights - such as stars or light painting you add into the frame. Shadows stay dark and never get overexposed.

In some areas this does give some odd artifacts though. Especially of the underlying photo is exposed - and then you add highlights into the same area - you can see weird "clippings", right at the threshold between underexposed and highlight exposed.

When you use the "B" longtime exposure setting instead

When you ONLY take longtime exposures - which almost any camera can do (setting "B") - then everything gets brighter the longer you keep the exposure running. That does not result into any threshold artifacts between shadows and highlights - but at the same time, if there is any light in the room, that light too will get accumulated, the longer your exposure runs. E.g the shadows also get brighter over time.

With such a "B" longtime exposure setting, you room or environment needs to be very dark, void of (almost) any light. Like making images in darkness outdoors, under a clear sky or very dark sky, while you stop down the aperture to let's say ƒ5.6 or ƒ8 and keep the camera shutter open for a couple minutes.

I should add that when i do these experiments (with "Live Comp" in an Olympus camera), the RAW image looks a lot darker, especially in the shadows. So, there is a lot of post-processing I do in Photoshop in order to "iron out" the entire photos. Sometimes i separate the background from the foreground (model), in order to lift the shadows - and make the diffuse - in this case orange red glow - brighter.

It is all experimental. From the exposures, to the light paintings and tools, to the final image post processed in Photoshop.

El-Wire favorite tool

I must say, that the diffuse, darkish glowing EL-Wire is still some of my favorites. They are far more diffuse compared to the "Ants on a Melon" light painting brushes. For the latter, I still haven't figures out the best exposures for it yet. Or the way I move them. You have these thousand black fibers - glowing at their ends like little tiny dots of light. Dependent on the angle - the brightness can shift vastly. They are bright when shining directly in to the camera, but much duller when you streak the light over the skin or any item of your desire. Also, when the angle shifts away from the camera, the light dots are much weaker.

Trial & Error

So, it is all about trial an error, really. Everything experimental and the results can be anything between highly frustrating, boring to very interesting. Sometimes an image looks fine at the Olympus' "Live Comp" preview I get on the back of the camera, after for example I've painted one section of the image - but then when I open the final result at the computer... i often feel like - "Hurrrk - what is THAT ?!"