How to make a smoking Gun, Cigarette...whatever. EASY!!

Step 1: Choose your smoking object

In this case...it's a gun...now I know guns only smoke for a second after you shoot them but there are certain liberties the entertainment industry takes with physics...like spaceships making rumblesounds and firey exposions in the vacuum of space. Smoking guns just add drama to a picture.

Step 2: Airbrush

On a new layer..Airbrush some grey over the origin of the smoke. Use a soft brush setting and a lower opacity.

Step 3: Spatter fun

Now we need some "pepper". Change you airbrushes setting to "dissolve" and shoot some white and black particles onto the grey spot. Not too many...just enough to smear

Step 4: Smudge

Grab the smudge tool (looks like a pointing finger) and smear the pixels upward in an "S" like motion. Don't worry if the effect is too severe right now...just smooth it all out.

Step 5: Finishing Effects

Grab your eraser tool and set it to airbrush with a soft brush setting and trim out the unwanted smoke. Use the dodge and burn tools to add highlites and shadows to the smoke. Re-smear any pixels or effects that look "too hard"

Lower the smoke layers opacity to taste.