Light painting is very efficient because it's a quick and small setup, it's my go to night time setup now (easy setup)...but you have to find the right light (hardest part, I'm using a portable battery and the modeling light on an Einstein E640 Studio Flash Unit). Complete darkness, sturdy tripod, 15-20 second shutter.. set high f-stop to compensate for what you need. i did a 2 part exposure here. I shot the background at a different exposure and then added the car to get exactly what I want.
Starry Night 2 by
Michael Lee, on Flickr
Porsche GT3 by
Michael Lee, on Flickr
RX-7 FD Mazda 2 by
Michael Lee, on Flickr
long exposure.. all you need is a tripod.
This was shot on a rig with no extra lighting..it was very dark out
rig_2 by
Michael Lee, on Flickr
This was using 3 speedlight flashes. Two on light stands and one on the ground
ferrari_05 by
Michael Lee, on Flickr