SYNCED AFFAIRS

color correction tutorial

mesnica — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 11:57:46 GMT

Made in PS7, but should be translatable to PSP and Gimp, afaik.
Works best on blue and green tinted caps, but the theory can be tweaked for just about any cap.

Relatively image heavy. Includes explanations on each step taken.

color fixing tutorial posted here @ icon_tutorial

50 misc icons

mesnica — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 18:42:01 GMT

[10] stock (landscape, Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin)
[13] Lord of the Rings
[6] Cate Blanchett
[9] Viggo Mortensen
[5] Orlando Bloom
[7] Viggo/Orlando

01 02 03 04 05

06 07 08 09 10

11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23

24 25 26 27 28

29 30 31 32 33

34 35 36 37 38

39 40 41 42 43

44 45 46 47 48

49 50

- Comment and credit the icons if you take any. Credit to mesnica/syncedaffairs.
- Do not alter the icons. Textless icons aren't bases.
- Ask if you have any questions. Tiny text is meant to be unreadable.
- Nominations are fine, just let me know.
- my resources / my tutorials
- watch / join syncedaffairs if you like what you see

pimping

mesnica — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:19:10 GMT

The sixth round of lotr_lims starts today.

You can still sign up and enter until the voting goes up!

And if you're not an icon maker, or don't have the time to sign up, more voters are always much appreciated!

New icons will be posted later this week!

mesnica — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 06:14:34 GMT

First voting goes up tomorrow (Tue), but you can still sign up and enter right until it's posted. The theme is countries this round, and you get to decide which one.

tutorial #4

mesnica — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 02:06:14 GMT

graven_rose asked for a tutorial on an icon of my latest post. Not all, but many, of these icons are using the same basic coloring, with alterations of course, so a tutorial on them makes a lot of sense.

We'll be going from to

Made in PS, but fully translatable to PSP. Includes explanations on each step taken.

	I started out with this image from gettyimages and cropped it to my liking. In the case of this image, the crop I'd chosen included the gettyimage watermark, so I smudged it away, as well.
	1. The image is already pretty bright, but as I will be adding layers on multiply and color burn later on, it needs additional brightening. Curves work very well for that, as they allow me to tinker with the coloring, too. I didn't touch the RGB curve at all, but changed the input value of the top right point (the one already given, I did NOT make a new point) of the red, green and blue curve by sliding the point somewhat to the left. My values were the following: [screenshot] Red: I 235 / O 255 Green: I 235 / O 255 Blue: I 251 / O 255 This is the result at the moment. But I want it brighter than that, and I don't want to use the RGB curve to brighten. Let's simply set the Curves layer to Screen, as this gives a softer overall lightening. Since the picture was pretty light to begin with, full opacity is too much, so I lower the opacity until I end up with 31% Screen.
	2. The next step is the much loved (and often over~~mis~~used) dark red exclusion layer. Be careful with this one when working on icons that have people on them. (I often end up masking out the parts of this layer that turn skin or objects a too unnatural color.) Here, since this is a stock icon, I don't have to be this careful. Color fill layer with a dark red/brown (#291102 here), then set it to Exclusion.
	3. Let's give the colors a bit more definition. I like to do this with a Hue/Saturation layer that I set to Soft Light. Increase the Saturation on the Master channel until it's almost too much; I end up at +37. Then set the layer to Soft Light. This adds contrast at the same time as the colors get more definition, but if you end up with too much contrast, simply lower the opacity of this layer. You might have to fiddle with the Saturation again then.
	4. Another color fill layer. Light blue (#D4EAF1) on Color Burn. This gives a bit more contrast, and brings out the blues and greens some more.
	5. Yet another color fill layer, this time with a light orange (#EBD4B8). I don't want the icon to be too cool in the end, and the orange gives the light parts of the icon some warmth back. I've set it to Vivid Light 25% Opacity 29% Fill. For PSP users: setting this layer to Overlay 20% will give you a very similar result.
	6. Color Balance layer next, to enhance the colors (or fix some discoloration if there are any). I mainly added blue in the midtones and highlights, and reduced blue in the shadows, but the settings of this layer depend strongly on your picture. My settings here are the following (preserve luminosity is checked) Midtones: -13 / -14 / +11 Highlights: +3 / +12 / +23 Shadows: +10 / +1 / -11
	7. Texture time. For the muted look, I like to use textures on multiply instead of color layers, as they have lighter and darker parts, and those add some more dimension to the icon than using simple color fill layers. I first used this texture by discolore, which I rotated and colorized until it was mainly orange (and looked like this). Any orange texture will work here though. I put it to Multiply 28 %.
	8. Next texture, again by discolore. Again I rotated it, and I blurred it, too (so it looked like this). Set to Linear Burn 32%. I also masked out some part of this layer.
	9. Third texture, this one's so twisted that I seriously can't say which it was to begin with. Probably one of discolore's too, because I'm lazy and keep taking textures out of one maker's folder if there's enough different kinds. Set it to Multiply 50% to finish off that muted look.
	10. I want the focus to be on the flowers in the two bottles, so with a light yellow/orange, I place a blob on them and blur it a bit so it's somewhat softer. Set this layer to Screen and lower the opacity to 50%. Then I duplicated this layer and set it to Color Burn 67%.
	11. To finish it off, I've added this light texture by soaked, and set it to Screen 50%. And last, I added this texture, which I mutilated (blurred, erased parts) so much I can't at all say who it's from, and set it to Overlay 21%.

Layer palette

Other examples with changed settings and/or additional layers:

more examples can be found in my two latest icon posts and that means it's way beyond time for me to find a new favourite coloring *g*

Ideas for variations:
- use different textures
- change the settings and/or blend modes of layers
- leave layers out or add others

- Comments make me happy
- Feel free to ask any question about the tutorial.
- Don't ask me for a .psd. If you really want one, go through the tutorial and save your result as one!
- watch / join syncedaffairs if you like what you see

50 icons

mesnica — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:52:24 GMT

[25] stock (flowers, landscape)
[25] Lord of the Rings

01 02 03 04 05

06 07 08 09 10

11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30

31 32 33 34 35

36 37 38 39 40

41 42 43 44 45

46 47 48 49 50

- Comment and credit the icons if you take any. Credit to mesnica/syncedaffairs.
- Do not alter the icons. Textless icons aren't bases.
- Ask if you have any questions. Tiny text is meant to be unreadable.
- Nominations are fine, just let me know.
- resources / tutorials
- watch / join syncedaffairs if you like what you see

85 icons, mixed batch

mesnica — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 09:47:51 GMT

[20] stock (cheetahs, horses, umbrellas, megaliths, landscape)
[40] Doctor Who (mostly s4)
[10] Cate Blanchett
[10] Orlando Bloom
[05] Viggo Mortensen

Lots of these have been lying on my computer unposted for far too long. Other, though, are brandnew, as I tried to fight my migraine with icons (non-thinking work for the most part). I was not succeeding on the migraine end, but at least managed to make several new icons I really like.

01 02 03 04 05

06 07 08 09 10

11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30

31 32 33 34 35

36 37 38 39 40

41 42 43 44 45

46 47 48 49 50

51 52 53 54 55

56 57 58 59 60

61 62 63 64 65

66 67 68 69 70

71 72 73 74 75

76 77 78 79 80

81 82 83 84 85

Comment and credit the icons if you take any. Credit to mesnica/syncedaffairs.

Do not alter the icons. Textless icons aren't bases.

Ask if you have any questions.

Nominations are fine, just let me know.

resources / tutorials

watch / join syncedaffairs if you like what you see

tutorial #3 - stock

mesnica — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:46:38 GMT

I was asked to make a tutorial for the icon below a while back. Here it is at last and I hope it's helpful.

from to

Made in PS7, but translatable with tweaking. Includes explanations on each step taken.

	I started out with this image from gettyimages and cropped it to my liking.
	1. The image is a very cool one; there are lots of greens and blues in it. I wanted my icon to be warm though, so the first thing I did after cropping was using a Color Balance layer to remove some of the blue (i.e. adding some yellow). Midtones 0 / 0 / -40
	2. The next step is brightening. I used a Curves layer for that here. The RGB channel changes the overall brightness of the image, the Red, Green and Blue channels can be used to add or reduce colors of the respective channel, which is why the values will depend on the picture. Pulling the curve up will add the color of the channel you're working in, pulling it down will reduce this color by adding its opposite (when working in RGB, pulling up brightens, pulling down darkens). I added more red because I want the colors to be warm in the end, blue so the sky doesn't totally looses it, and green is needed to balance the red (I don't want a pink sky). My values are the following: RGB: I: 106 O: 131 Red: I: 120 O: 188 Green: I: 118 O: 159 Blue: I: 132 O: 164
	3. The image at this point has lost a lot of contrast so the next step is a Brightness/Contrast layer. Since only adding contrast makes the image even brighter in parts, I also reduced the brightness. My settings are: -17 / +12
	4. Time to give the sky its blue back. A Color Fill layer with dark red set to exclusion will do that. The actual color used will depend on your picture. I used #2B0904.
	5. Since the exclusion layer turned the grass in the foreground green again, and I don't want it that way, it's time for a Selective Color layer. If you're using a program that doesn't have SC, you can also use Channel Mixer for a similar result (see below). Using Selective Colors, I concentrated on those colors that I wanted to change or enhance (which is why the settings for another picture should differ... at the worst, using the same numbers will make your icon look completely horrible; play around and look at your icon). In the case of this icon, I wanted to change the grass from yellow/greenish to yellow/reddish and enhance the blue of the sky and sea as well as the white of the lighthouse and the clouds. Method: Relative Reds: There were none in the icon at this point, so I didn't touch them. Yellows: The yellows were greenish, so I reduced cyan and added magenta and yellow. my settings: -23 \| +56 \| +14 \| 0 Greens: It sounds strange, but there are no greens to speak of in this icon either. Changing the Greens will have no visible results. If you're using a different picture, it may be different for you. Cyans: This is the sky, which I want a darker blue. I added cyan and reduced yellow for more blue, then added magenta and black for a darker blue. my settings: +72 \| +100 \| -67 \| +25 Blues: Again, I added cyan and black to make the sky more blue. my settings: +67 \| 0 \| 0 \| +83 Magentas: No changes as there were none in the picture. Whites: That's the lighthouse, the clouds, and the sand. I reduced yellow and black to make it more white. my settings: 0 \| 0 \| -16 \| -24 Neutrals: These will make changes on all colors that are in the icon, so I reduced cyan to make the icon warmer, and added magenta and yellow. I also lightened the image a bit by reducing black a tiny bit. my settings: -21 \| +13 \| +39 \| -9 Blacks: No changes again. OR If you're using Channel Mixer instead of Selective Colors in the Red Channel: add some red and reduce blue. in the Blue Channel: reduce red some and add some blue. Then add a layer filled with grey on Color Burn to deepen the colors. If you want the grass to be a bit more reddish, pick an orange color from the grass and, on the grey layer, go with a brush over the parts of the grass. Reduce the opacity of the Color Burn layer until you're satisfied.
	6. For some more contrast, I used a Levels layer, set to Overlay 24%. On the Levels directly, I didn't change any settings on the RGB channel, but on the Red, Green and Blue channels, I changed the first and last points of the Input Levels by dragging them to where the visible graph starts (first point) or ends (last point). If you're using Photoshop, you can alternatively simply use the Auto Button that does this for you, and then if you feel it still needs adjusting, fiddle some more with it. Paint Shop Pro users, I fear, will have to fiddle blindly (correct me if I'm wrong, I only have PSP7, and this version doesn't show a graph for the Levels). TIP: Setting the layer to Overlay first, then changing the values for the Levels makes it easier to find the settings you want.
	7. On to the textures, of which there are five in this icon. First, I used this texture by soaked, flipped it around so that the lighter part was at the bottom and the darker at the top. I set it to Soft Light 43%. This darkens the sky in the icon some more and adds some light to the bottom part.
	8. Next texture is this dark turquoise one by discolore. Again, I flipped it so the darker parts are at the top, then I set it to Vivid Light 41%. Since there were some white specks from the texture, I blurred it, too. The sky is now a lovely blue color, but I don't want the grass and the lighthouse to be blueish. I added a layer mask to the texture and "erased" the beach with a soft round brush (doesn't have to be too precise), then zoomed in to "erase" the texture from the lighthouse as well with a much smaller brush.
	9. I wanted it to look a bit more dreamy, so I added another texture that's predominantly a light yellow (#F3F3C9), and set it to Multiply 75%. Using a Color Fill layer with a light yellow instead of a texture will work for this step, too. I think it was also a texture by discolore, but I've blurred/smudged it so much that I can't really recognize it anymore g
	10. Now it gets a tiny bit complicated, but I hope not too much to follow it. I liked the coloring at this point, but I decided to add some final touches. I made a new layer and picked a very light yellow from the sand, and used a small soft brush to make a blob half on, half next to the lighthouse top. I set this layer to Overlay and reduced Opacity and Fill to my liking. I went for subtlety here, so the dot doesn't do more than lighten the sky right around the lighthouse top. Then I made another new layer and picked a more orange/yellow color from the grass, and with the brush painted to the side of the lighthouse where I placed the dot. I set this layer to Soft Light and reduced the Opacity of this layer as well. First blob: light pale yellow, Overlay, Opacity 36%, Fill 57% Second blob: orange-yellow, Soft Light, Opacity 38%
	11. I wanted the colors to pop some more, so I copy-merged all visible layers (stamped) onto a new layer, set it to Soft Light and dragged this layer below the two layers with the blobs. This pronounced the blobs a bit more.
	12. I was satisfied with the overall coloring, but it was a touch too bright for my taste at this point. I also wanted some more focus on the lighthouse. For these reasons, I added two textures below the Soft Light layer of step 11, desaturated them (so they didn't add any new colors), and set them to Soft Light and Color Burn (reduced Fill and Opacity) respectively. Which textures to use here depends very much on the picture. I first used this one by pfefferminzchen, which I desaturated and I set to Soft Light (full Opacity). The lighter parts are over the lighthouse, the darker over the sky and grass; this adds focus on the lighthouse.
	Next I used a texture that I blurred so much I don't recognize who it is by anymore. Overall, it's a medium gray color, and really, pretty much any grey texture will do (or a desaturated one). I blurred it using the blur brush, which I mostly do with textures, as it gives me control over which parts I blur and how much I do that. This texture is set to Color Burn 85% Opacity and 55% Fill and gives the icon the final muted touch.

Other examples with slightly changed settings:

Ideas for variations:
- use different textures
- change the settings and/or blend modes of layers
- change the Selective Color settings according to your picture or leave it out completely; not every picture needs it

- Comments make me happy
- Feel free to ask any question about the tutorial.
- Don't ask me for a .psd. I think they're pretty useless since the settings of most layers have to be tweaked for different images.
- watch / join syncedaffairs if you like what you see

New icon post probably later this week :)

66 icons

mesnica — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 06:18:05 GMT

[15] misc. stock
[12] Lord of the Rings
[6] Cate Blanchett
[7] Viggo Mortensen
[22] Orlando Bloom (incl. var. movies)
[4] Orlando/Viggo

01 02 03 04 05

06 07 08 09 10

11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25

26 27

28 29 30 31 32

33

34 35 36 37 38

39 40

41 42 43 44 45

46 47 48 49 50

51 52 53 54 55

56 57 58 59 60

61 62

63 64 65 66

Comment and credit the icons if you take any. Credit to mesnica/syncedaffairs.

Do not alter the icons. Textless icons aren't bases.

Ask if you have any questions. Tiny text is meant to be unreadable.

Nominations are fine, just let me know.

resources / tutorials

watch / join syncedaffairs if you like what you see

suggestions? tutorial requests?

mesnica — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 16:12:52 GMT

I like writing tutorials, but I can't ever decide for which icons. So here's where you can ask me to write a tutorial for a specific icon of mine (please don't go too far back in my icon posts; I only keep my pds's for so long :P)

Also, I'd love requests for what to icon. That means no specific picture requests but general themes. Give me ideas for what kind of stock icons you'd like to see, which shows, which movies, etc.
You can ask for something I've never iconed before, but if I'm not interested in it at all, then I very probably won't make icons of it. Check my userinfo for everything I definitely will make icons of or just try your luck ;)

small batch of LotR icons

mesnica — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 08:47:04 GMT

[15] Lord of the Rings

01 02 03 04 05

06 07 08 09 10

11 12 13 14 15

01-04: entries for lotr_lims, where I won round four.
05: entry for aragorn_lims
06: entry for vigorli_stills

Comment and credit the icons if you take any. Credit to mesnica/syncedaffairs.

Do not alter the icons. Textless icons aren't bases.

Ask if you have any questions. Tiny text is meant to be unreadable.

Nominations are fine, just let me know.

resources / tutorials

watch / join syncedaffairs if you like what you see

<pimp>
Round Five of lotr_lims has started.
Sign ups are still possible until this Saturday.
</pimp>

28 icons

mesnica — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 08:56:54 GMT

[12] Cate Blanchett
[16] stock (lamps, Venice carnival, nature)

01 02 03 04 05

06 07 08 09 10

11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28

Comment and credit the icons if you take any. Credit to mesnica/syncedaffairs.

Do not alter the icons. Textless icons aren't bases.

Ask if you have any questions. Tiny text is meant to be unreadable.

Nominations are fine, just let me know.

resources / tutorials

watch / join syncedaffairs if you like what you see

40 icons

mesnica — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 14:36:59 GMT

[20] Pirates of the Caribbean (all movies)
[11] Cate Blanchett
[09] stock (train tracks, paths, cheetahs)

01. 02. 03. 04. 05.

06. 07. 08. 09. 10.

11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

21. 22. 23. 24. 25.

26. 27. 28. 29. 30.

31. 32. 33. 34. 35.

36. 37. 38. 39. 40.

Comment and credit the icons if you take any. Credit to mesnica/syncedaffairs.

Do not alter the icons. Textless icons aren't bases.

Ask if you have any questions. Tiny text is meant to be unreadable.

Nominations are fine, just let me know.

resources / tutorials

watch / join syncedaffairs if you like what you see

28 icons

mesnica — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:29:45 GMT

[16] LotR
[12] Stock (nature)

01.	02.	03.	04.
05.	06.	07.	08.
09.	10.	11.	12.
13.	14.	15.	16.

17.	18.	19.	20.
21.	22.	23.	24.
25.	26.	27.	28.

Comment and credit the icons if you take any. Credit to mesnica/syncedaffairs.

Do not alter the icons. Textless icons aren't bases.

Ask if you have any questions. Tiny text is meant to be unreadable.

Nominations are fine, just let me know.

resources / tutorials

watch / join syncedaffairs if you like what you see

pimping

mesnica — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 23:08:07 GMT

I signed up on two more LIMS. I'm either insane or have too much time on my hands, not so sure which *g*

viggo_rumble & yourchoice_lims

Take a look at these. Sign up if you're interested in participating or simply friend to be around to vote when the time comes around.

----

More icons will be posted soon.

100 LotR icons -- icon battle

mesnica — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 06:54:13 GMT

icon battle
deadwillwalk vs. mesnica

~
~

This post is the result of an collaboration between deadwillwalk and mesnica. With this icon battle as model, we chose 25 LotR screencaps each, coming to 50 screencaps in total. Each of us cropped those 50 screencaps, and then we exchanged the icon bases. The battle was to work with bases which have been cropped by another person (which is harder than it sounds. I never work with precropped bases myself!) And as our icon styles differ, it's very interesting to see the finished icons.

The table includes the finished icons, the bases, and links to the original screencaps. Because of that, this is a very image heavy post, with 100 icons plus 100 bases!

	icon by deadwillwalk	crop by mesnica	original cap	crop by deadwillwalk	icon by mesnica
01			link
02			link
03			link
04			link
05			link
06			link
07			link
08			link
09			link
10			link
11			link
12			link
13			link
14			link
15			link
16			link
17			link
18			link
19			link
20			link
21			link
22			link
23			link
24			link
25			link
26			link
27			link
28			link
29			link
30			link
31			link
32			link
33			link
34			link
35			link
36			link
37			link
38			link
39			link
40			link
41			link
42			link
43			link
44			link
45			link
46			link
47			link
48			link
49			link
50			link

Comment and credit the icons if you take any. Credit mesnica/syncedaffairs for mesnica's icons; credit sinister_morgue for deadwillwalk's icons.

Do not alter the icons. Textless icons aren't bases.

Ask if you have any questions. Tiny text is meant to be unreadable.

Nominations are fine, just let me us know.

resources / tutorials

watch / join syncedaffairs if you like what you see

tutorial #2

mesnica — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 07:38:10 GMT

twinkletwilight asked me for a tutorial for this icon . I managed to recreate my steps, so here is it.

from to

Made in PS7. 14 steps, including Curves and Selective Coloring. Might be translatable to other programs by advanced users.

Note: Apparently, my photoshop is on drugs. Step 4 is now revised so you can actually follow the tutorial. Thanks to girl3744 for bringing the problem to my attention.
Note 2: Revised again. This tutorial turns out to be way more complicated than I first thought. I missed something on step 6 that's now fixed, and edited the wording on the steps 6 and 8 to make it easier to understand. Also posted a new picture of my layer palette since the old one didn't reflect the tutorial anymore.

If there are still problems, please let me know!

1. Take your cap and crop it. Because of the next step, it's best if the cap has a faint bluish tint to it.

2. Curves layer so the natural colors come out. Depending on the cap you use, you'll need to adjust the settings. I mainly wanted to get rid of the blueish tint and get out Galadriel's skin tone and the colors of the leaves in the background. If your cap has a very different coloring from the one I used, this step is where you should try to even out the differences.

The settings I used are:

RGB
1st point: I: 132 / O: 172
2nd point: I: 52 / O: 61

Red
1st point: I: 194 / O: 207
2nd point: I: 153 / O: 164

Green
1st point: I: 167 / O: 150
2nd point: I: 91 / O: 89

Blue
1st point: I: 168 / O: 132
2nd point: I: 76 / O: 73

to

If you're following this with a different cap, keep note of how light (and red/pinkish) her skin is after this step and how little contrast there is in total. Your end result will be way darker if, after this step, your icon is much darker and/or has lots of contrast.

3. Added a dark blue layer (#05052E) and set it to Difference 42% Fill because there was still way too much blue in the icon for my liking.

to

4. REVISED Galadriel's skin looks horrible now, so let's change that. Make a new Levels Layer (Layer - New Adjustment Layer - Levels).

My settings are:

RGB
Input Levels: 26 / 0.95 / 187
Output Levels: 26 / 255

Red
Input Levels: 0 / 0.95 / 253
Output Levels: 1 / 248

Green
Input Levels: 5 / 0.86 / 255
Output Levels: 0 / 255

Blue
Input Levels: 0 / 1.03 / 255
Output Levels: 0 / 255

The result of this is minimal different from what's show below. The finished icon will be a tiny bit darker in the greens of the background, but the overall coloring effect will be the same. If you're following this tutorial with the same cap and want to archieve the exact look of the finished icon, adjusting the settings of the last Selective Coloring Layer (step 13) will get you that.

Note: If you're following this with a different picture, take note of how little contrast there is in the icon at this point and how light it is. Adjust your level settings accordingly or add a Brightness/Contrast layer to the same effect.

to

5. Dark blue exclusion layer to get rid of the constrast (yes, even more so) and make the colors more soft and dreamy looking. I used #001A4E on Exclusion, left it at 100%.

to

6. At this point, I think I decided it was too dark for my liking (I honestly can't really remember why I did the next steps the way I did). Anyway, I used a light grey paper texture on soft light, and another (with a bit more texture) on color burn. As I have no idea which textures I used, I'm recreating this now with first

- a light grey layer (#E6E6E6) on soft light, 100% (this was the main color of the texture in the original icon, that hardly had any texture at all anyway)

- and then a light grey texture (this one by dusty_memories) on color burn 64% fill.

- Make a new layer on top of all layers, then turn off the visibility of the last three layers (the two grey ones and the exclusion layer). Select the empty layer on top, and then stamp (Ctrl + Alt + Shft + E) all (now) visible layer (from background to the levels layer). and put this stamped layer (that should be on top of all layers) to Soft Light 100%. Turn on the visiblity of the two grey layers and the exclusion layer again (so that all layers are visible once more).
Stamping is the same as selecting the entire canvas, then going to Edit - Copy Merged, and then pasting this (Edit - Paste). Both ways will give you a copy of all visible layers on a new layer. If you use the copy merged commands, you do not need to first make a new layer, but you will need to select your entire canvas before you can use the copy merged command.

to

7. Not enough contrast, so I duplicated that (stamped/copy-merged) layer again and left it on soft light 100%. Since I really wanted the background to be less blueish though, I added another blue exclusion layer (#001A4E) between the two topmost soft light layers.

to

8. Copy merged and pasted (or stamped, whichever you prefer) all layers again (like in step 4), and set this layer to Soft Light 28% Fill for a bit more contrast. This step won't be necessary on all icons.

to

9. Selective Color Layer to bring out the greens and magentas a bit more. You can leave this out if you want or fiddle with color balance if you don't use PS.

My settings were:

[Methode: Relative]

Greens
Cyan: +100%
Yellow: +100%

Cyans
Cyan: +100%

Blues
Cyan: +100%

Magentas
Magenta: +100%

Blacks
Black: +40%

to

10. Fixed the pixelated bits on Galadriel's skin (mostly at the neck). New Raster Layer, take the blur brush, enable Use All Layers and lower the Strength a bit. Then carefully blur the too pixelated bits (I needed this more on the original icon than here).

to

11. Light yellow/orangeish layer on Multiply so it looks a bit more dreamy/soft. I used #FEEBC7 on Multiply with 41% opacity and 45% fill.

to

12. I decided the green/turquoise color of the background was too saturated, so I added a Hue/Saturation layer and lowered the Saturation by -31. That takes care of the background, but Galadriel is too light and washed out now, so I used the Mask of the Hue/Saturation layer and went over her face and hair with a soft round brush.

to

13. Another Selective Color Layer to make the background more green and less turquoise.

My settings:

[Methode: Absolute]

Greens
Cyan: -30%
Yellow: +7%
Black: +12%

Cyans
Cyan: -33%

Blues
Cyan: +29%

It should be possible to get a similar result by either using Color Balance or Hue/Saturation (working not with the Masters, but the Greens, Cyans and Blues).

to

14. Sharpen at will (or leave it as it is). I made a new raster layer and used the sharpen brush (enable Use All Layers; Strength: 22%) on Galadriel's face and the leaves.

to

Done!

My layer palette looks like this:

And I had to go through this with different pictures to see if it even works on other caps. I found that, with some tweaking, it does.

Feel free to ask any question :)

small batch (20 icons)

mesnica — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 20:52:57 GMT

[8] LotR
[12] LotR cast (Viggo Mortensen & Orlando Bloom)

01.	02.	03.	04.
05.	06.	07.	08.
09.	10.	11.	12.
13.	14.	15.	16.
17.	18.	19.	20.

[+] Comment and credit to mesnica/syncedaffairs (friend the community)
[+] Do not alter the icons. Textless icons aren't bases.
[+] Ask if you have any questions. Tiny text is meant to be unreadable.
[+] Nominations are fine, just let me know.
[+] resources / tutorials
[+] Enjoy!

Coming up next, 50 LotR icons.

If you like icons of Aragorn, check out aragorn_lims. Deadline for sign up is tomorrow (2nd November).

mixed batch (56 icons)

mesnica — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 10:59:31 GMT

[28] stock (nature & wildlife)
[13] LotR
[15] LotR cast (Viggo Mortensen & Orlando Bloom)

01.	02.	03.	04.
05.	06.	07.	08.
09.	10.	11.	12.
13.	14.	15.	16.
17.	18.	19.	20.
21.	22.	23.	24.
25.	26.	27.	28.
29.	30.	31.	32.
33.	34.	35.	36.
37.	38.	39.	40.
41.	42.	43.	44.
45.	46.	47.	48.
49.	50.	51.	52.
53.	54.	55.	56.

32 stock icons icons

mesnica — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 08:49:50 GMT

My first stock icons.

mostly nature and wildlife (cheetahs)

01.	02.	03.	04.
05.	06.	07.	08.
09.	10.	11.	12.
13.	14.	15.	16.
17.	18.	19.	20.
21.	22.	23.	24.
25.	26.	27.	28.
29.	30.	31.	32.

legolas_is_mine — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 21:15:56 GMT

[5] Aragorn/ Legolas
[5] Viggo/ Orlando
[7] Orlando
[6] Viggo

001

002

003

004

005

006

007

008

009

010

011

012

013

014

015

016

017

018

019

020

021

022

023

Created with angelamaria's Icon Table Generator @ Bauble

Please comment and credit if you take any.

Thank you.

mesnica — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 03:54:33 GMT

Posting just because it would be a shame to let banners collect dust on my HD only.

Post by no means complete.

vigorli_stills

elite_stock

36 icon batch

mesnica — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 09:15:39 GMT

I couldn't resist the pretty of the Uno ad. Went a bit capping overboard with it, too ~~(if anyone wants them, just holler and I'll upload)~~ Uploaded, link is at the bottom of the post.

[8] Lord of the Rings
[2] Viggo/Orlando
[6] Viggo (+ Eastern Promises)
[20] Orlando

01. 02. 03. 04.

05. 06. 07. 08.

09. 10. 11. 12.

13. 14. 15. 16.

17. 18. 19. 20.

21. 22. 23. 24.

25. 26. 27. 28.

29. 30. 31. 32.

33. 34. 35. 36.

This post contains my entries for lotr_lims and vigorli_stills.

• Comment and credit to mesnica/syncedaffairs (friend the community)
• Do not alter the icons. Textless icons aren't bases.
• Ask if you have any questions. Tiny text is meant to be unreadable.
• Nominations are fine, just let me know.
• resources / tutorials
• Enjoy!

Shiseido Uno Ad (30MB / 941 caps / 632 x 368 px)
Please credit me somewhere for the caps if you use them. Thanks!

28 icon batch

mesnica — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 10:51:54 GMT

Includes LotR, Viggo/Orlando, Cast, Viggo (+ Eastern Promises), Orlando

01. 02. 03. 04.

05. 06. 07. 08.

09. 10. 11. 12.

13. 14. 15. 16.

17. 18. 19. 20.

21. 22. 23. 24.

25. 26. 27. 28.

I feel a bit planless with my iconing lately, so if there's something special you would like to see me making icons of, feel free to suggest it now.

mixed icon batch

mesnica — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 03:26:12 GMT

[7] Lord of the Rings
[9] Viggo/Orlando
[8] Viggo
[8] Orlando

01. 02. 03. 04.

05. 06. 07. 08.

09. 10. 11. 12.

13. 14. 15. 16.

17. 18. 19. 20.

21. 22. 23. 24.

25. 26. 27. 28.

29. 30. 31. 32.

• 01-05 entries at lotr_lims (Round 3), where I got in third. Sign ups for Round 4 are open now.
• 06-12, 17-20, 25-28 entries at vigorli_stills

• Comment and credit to mesnica/syncedaffairs (friend the community)
• Do not alter the icons. Textless icons aren't bases.
• Ask if you have any questions. Tiny text is meant to be unreadable.
• Nominations are fine, just let me know.
• resources / tutorials
• Enjoy!

01.	02.	03.	04.
05.	06.	07.	08.
09.	10.	11.	12.
13.	14.	15.	16.

17.	18.	19.	20.
21.	22.	23.	24.
25.	26.	27.	28.

01.	02.	03.	04.
05.	06.	07.	08.
09.	10.	11.	12.
13.	14.	15.	16.
17.	18.	19.	20.

01.	02.	03.	04.
05.	06.	07.	08.
09.	10.	11.	12.
13.	14.	15.	16.
17.	18.	19.	20.
21.	22.	23.	24.
25.	26.	27.	28.
29.	30.	31.	32.
33.	34.	35.	36.
37.	38.	39.	40.
41.	42.	43.	44.
45.	46.	47.	48.
49.	50.	51.	52.
53.	54.	55.	56.

01.	02.	03.	04.
05.	06.	07.	08.
09.	10.	11.	12.
13.	14.	15.	16.
17.	18.	19.	20.
21.	22.	23.	24.
25.	26.	27.	28.
29.	30.	31.	32.

01.	02.	03.	04.
05.	06.	07.	08.
09.	10.	11.	12.
13.	14.	15.	16.

17.	18.	19.	20.
21.	22.	23.	24.
25.	26.	27.	28.

01.	02.	03.	04.
05.	06.	07.	08.
09.	10.	11.	12.
13.	14.	15.	16.
17.	18.	19.	20.

01.	02.	03.	04.
05.	06.	07.	08.
09.	10.	11.	12.
13.	14.	15.	16.
17.	18.	19.	20.
21.	22.	23.	24.
25.	26.	27.	28.
29.	30.	31.	32.
33.	34.	35.	36.
37.	38.	39.	40.
41.	42.	43.	44.
45.	46.	47.	48.
49.	50.	51.	52.
53.	54.	55.	56.

01.	02.	03.	04.
05.	06.	07.	08.
09.	10.	11.	12.
13.	14.	15.	16.
17.	18.	19.	20.
21.	22.	23.	24.
25.	26.	27.	28.
29.	30.	31.	32.

01.	02.	03.	04.
05.	06.	07.	08.
09.	10.	11.	12.
13.	14.	15.	16.

17.	18.	19.	20.
21.	22.	23.	24.
25.	26.	27.	28.

01.	02.	03.	04.
05.	06.	07.	08.
09.	10.	11.	12.
13.	14.	15.	16.
17.	18.	19.	20.

01.	02.	03.	04.
05.	06.	07.	08.
09.	10.	11.	12.
13.	14.	15.	16.
17.	18.	19.	20.
21.	22.	23.	24.
25.	26.	27.	28.
29.	30.	31.	32.
33.	34.	35.	36.
37.	38.	39.	40.
41.	42.	43.	44.
45.	46.	47.	48.
49.	50.	51.	52.
53.	54.	55.	56.

01.	02.	03.	04.
05.	06.	07.	08.
09.	10.	11.	12.
13.	14.	15.	16.
17.	18.	19.	20.
21.	22.	23.	24.
25.	26.	27.	28.
29.	30.	31.	32.