1. First, we want to get our basic photo. I chose this simply because I liked her shirt.


2. Crop your photo! Try to crop it so it doesn't just show the face straight on, as in most cases it makes the icon look boring. Consequentially, try not having too much action in one icon, as it can make it look clustered. At first, it may be hard to find a crop you like, but eventually you'll find it! Also, for the best results possible, it's good to keep in mind that high quality images make a high quality icon. Of course, there are plenty of ways to fix up an image such as this, but it can make life easier in the long run!


3. Go to image > resize. Icons are always 100 x 100 LJ! Make sure you have constrain proportions off, as it will not let you resize it to the exact size needed.


4 . Click layer > new adjustment layer > brightness & contrast > brightness + 44, contrast + 19. The photo itself was pretty dark, so I find this is the easiest way to brighten an icon. Don't up the brightness too high, or you'll get something that looks like a reflection of a flash from a camera. Of course, if the picture took place at night, you'd have to set the brightness very high. Other times, you might want to make it brighter or darker in a very subtle manner, so be sure to experiment with this!


5. Click layer > new adjustment layer > selective coloring >
reds: cyan = -50, yellow = -50
yellows: cyan= -55, yellow = -30. black= -55
greens: cyan= +100, magneta= -100, yellow= +100
cyans: cyan= +100, magneta= -74, yellow= +100
magnetas: cyan= = -100, magneta= +100, yellow= -100
blacks: black= +10

Mainly, I focused on making the skin less of a goldish yellow and making the picture itself a little more vibrant. Consequentially, this makes the skin itself an orange tone and the highlights a yellow tone. Remember, when you take away yellow from a picture, the blues will be more visible. When you take away cyan, the reds will pop out. You don't always have to make such drastic changes like -100, but for extremely dull pictures it can help brighten them up. Depending on the picture, it can make it look really ugly! Especially if you're going for something subtle like soft, pastel tones.

If you wanted, you could stop here, but I still think it's missing something to make it pop!


6. Click on the saturate tool (the sponge), brush size= around 3, magnify the picture and run the saturate tool a couple times over the shirt. Be careful not to run it over the skin or it will turn a bright red color! To be honest, I really liked her shirt because it had an interesting color, so I wanted to draw attention to it. You can stop here if you want, but if you feel like adding a nifty effect, then you might want to give this a shot.


7. For the optional ending click the gradient tool, create a new layer, make sure it's the radial gradiant (the one with the white circle in the middle), and drag the tool near whatever area appeases you. Leave the blending mode at normal and the opacity to about 30%! As a note, the foreground color was white and the background color was black. I really like using this as it allows you to brighten up one area, while darkening the black surroundings in an interesting yet subtle manner.

Anyways, we're all done here! If you liked the tutorial, found it helpful in any way, or have questions... please comment!