With anything in Photoshop, there’s several different ways to achieve an end result. In this tutorial, I’m going to walk you through the technique I use to create smoke in images. There are other ways to create an effect similar to this, I just happen to think this is the best way.
To begin, let’s create a new layer and use a brush with some harsh edges. We are going to start out using a light gray and we will paint a chris-crossing pattern emanating from the candle. Once we’ve finished with the first layer, let’s make a second layer, use a darker gray, and paint a complimenting poof of smoke the goes off in an opposite pattern. Finally, we’ll make a third layer and repeat the same steps.