Just to add:
-some fuels create more smoke than others. The more resinous the fuel, the more smoke. The harder the wood, usually, it will create less smoke.
-grass creates less smoke than pine needles
-the more things around you for the light of the fire to reflect off of, the more people will see you from a distance
-ALWAYS clear the area around your fire of fuel. I have seen this go wrong in homebum camps SO many times. You dont want to be the asshole who starts a 50,000 acre forest fire....like the assholes around Santa Barbra this year.