1. A method of detecting smoke in a monitored area containing a light source, said method comprising the steps of: capturing, at a point in said monitored area that is distant from said light source and at a prescribed frequency, video images of said light source in the form of two-dimensional bitmaps, wherein the spatial resolution of said bitmap is determined by the number of pixels comprising said bitmaps, wherein the pixels corresponding to said light source are identified as such by the brightness levels of said pixels exceeding a prescribed threshold value, temporally monitoring the smoke influenced properties reflected in said bitmaps of the pixels corresponding to said light source so as to identify the presence of smoke in said monitored area, wherein said smoke influenced properties of said pixels chosen from the group consisting of the size of the bitmap area associated with those pixels that are identified as corresponding to said light source, the variations in the brightness of said pixels that are identified as corresponding to said light source, and the shape of the bitmap area associated with those pixels that are identified as corresponding to said light source.