Adding atmosphere to portraits

For years I've been using smoke and steam.... sometimes heavy..... but often in extremely subtle ways almost to the point where you cannot see it. I find it brings elements of my compositions especially together. It also helps to tie everything together in a sense of realness. Smoke and steam can also be used to create literally just that.... smoke and steam for those more dramatic images. I've created a tutorial here that shows you how I overlay these effects.

Kayla from my 2019 Los Angeles workshop with a 'Steam' effect added.