Using Color Dodge (making dark pictures lighter / enhancing color)
This is a quick and simple tutorial to prepare and/or lighten bases and to enhance or change the overall color of the icon.
From
to...
1. Duplicate the base layer and set it to Screen.
2. Duplicate the Screen layer. If it's too bright, fiddle with the Opacity. Or, if it's not bright enough, duplicate the Screen layer again.
3. Create a new layer and Flood Fill it with a dark color, set to Color Dodge. For this tutorial, I used #0A2348.
There! And if you want to sharpen it, sharpen the base layer once.
Other results:
(Color Dodge layer: #620000) 
(#004900) 
(#624E00)
Enhancing certain colors:
This was made by duplicating the base layer once and setting it to Screen.
Then, I duplicated the Screen layer again, upped the Saturation a little, and duplicated that layer. So that's base layer -> Screen layer -> Saturated Screen layer -> Saturated Screen layer.
Then, I added a new layer with #0A2348 set to Color Dodge. After that, #44003A set to Color Dodge and 50% Opacity. Finally, I duplicated one of the saturated layers, dragged it to the top of the pile, and set it to Overlay at 50% Opacity. The #44003A Color Dodge layer greatly enhanced the pink Avon stuff on Edward's face.
If you want to enhance a certain color on one of your bases, then select the color with the Eyedropper, then flood fill that color and set it to Color Dodge.
ETA: Oh, bollocks - I made this tutorial using PS Elements 2.0, and I'm positive it's translate-able to other versions of PS.
From
to...1. Duplicate the base layer and set it to Screen.
2. Duplicate the Screen layer. If it's too bright, fiddle with the Opacity. Or, if it's not bright enough, duplicate the Screen layer again.
3. Create a new layer and Flood Fill it with a dark color, set to Color Dodge. For this tutorial, I used #0A2348.
There! And if you want to sharpen it, sharpen the base layer once.
Other results:
(Color Dodge layer: #620000) (#004900) (#624E00)Enhancing certain colors:
This was made by duplicating the base layer once and setting it to Screen.
Then, I duplicated the Screen layer again, upped the Saturation a little, and duplicated that layer. So that's base layer -> Screen layer -> Saturated Screen layer -> Saturated Screen layer.
Then, I added a new layer with #0A2348 set to Color Dodge. After that, #44003A set to Color Dodge and 50% Opacity. Finally, I duplicated one of the saturated layers, dragged it to the top of the pile, and set it to Overlay at 50% Opacity. The #44003A Color Dodge layer greatly enhanced the pink Avon stuff on Edward's face.
If you want to enhance a certain color on one of your bases, then select the color with the Eyedropper, then flood fill that color and set it to Color Dodge.
ETA: Oh, bollocks - I made this tutorial using PS Elements 2.0, and I'm positive it's translate-able to other versions of PS.