STEP BY STEP / All smoke and no mirrors

1 Make a new document

Go to File>New and set the Size drop-down menu to A4. Go to the Background Contents option, set the colour to black, click OK. Grab the Move tool from the Tools panel. Go to the Options bar at the top and check Show Transform Controls and Auto-Select Layer.

2 Add the dancer

Open dancer.jpg and select the Move tool. Click the image and drag it up to the tab of your new black image, then down into the image window to copy the image over. Position it centrally, then go to the Layers panel and lower the layer opacity until the dancer is only just visible.

3 Select the smoke

Open Smoke08.jpg. Grab the Lasso tool. Look for areas of smoke that match the shape you want to make. Here’s a part that looks like a head, so drag around it to make a rough selection. Grab the Move tool. Drag the selected area to the tab of the main image, then down in to copy it.

4 Blend and position

Go to the Layers panel, drag smoke layer below the dancer layer, then change the blending mode to Screen. Next, click the bounding box that surrounds the smoke layer to transform it. Rotate the layer to fit the shape of the dancer, using the other layer as a visual guide.

5 Warp the shape

Right-click and choose the Warp transform option, then drag the grid to warp the layer so that the smoke follows the shape of the body. Press Enter to apply. Open other smoke images and look for parts of the smoke that will roughly match the body, arms and limbs.

6 Make a dress

The shape of smoke03 looks like a frilly dress, so use the Lasso tool to make a selection around the area. Use the Move tool to drag it into the main image, then set the Screen blending mode and use the transform controls to reposition, rotate and reshape it. Press Enter to apply.