Smoke Photography Double Exposure Portraiture

Apart from wanting to challenge myself with the smoke photography I also wanted to use it to create some pretty double exposure portraits.

I’ve been playing around with an old portrait I had from a previous painting session and have two that I quite like. What I have essentially learnt from this process is that I need to go and take some proper portrait shots in optimum conditions with a willing victim who will allow me to play around with lighting and pose.

I’m hoping that I’ve managed to arrange for a willing victim next weekend so we’ll see how that goes and I’ll carry on the smoke experiments with my new photographs.

But for now… here’s what I have been experimenting with.

These were created in photoshop CS6, using curves to colour the smoke, various levels of opacity and by using the magic wand/quick selection (area dependent) tool to select and cut around the smoke on the face layer.

I have been using various tutorials and trial and error to create these, any advice, tips or guidance would be well received!