Well, people often ask me, 'How do you make good icons?!' The answer is, there is not a 'good way' to make icons and a 'bad way.' I'm just showing you what works for me.

First of all, find a nice quality image that you would like to make an icon of. This is the picture I will be using:

Using your crop tool, cut the image down to just the portion you want on the icon.

Try to make the picture a square. Now, go to Image >> Image Size and resize the picture to 100 pixels by 100 pixels.

Go to Layer >> Duplicate Layer. In the Layers Window, right click on the layer that is a copy. Choose 'Blending Options' and set the Blend Mode to either Overlay or Soft Light. Next, on that same layer, go to Filter >> Blur >> Gaussian Blur. Make the radius 3.0.

You're done with that layer. On the first layer with the actual image you haven't done anything else to yet, go to Filter >> Sharpen >> Sharpen Edges. Now go to Layer >> Merge Visible.

That's your icon! You can add text or effects if you'd like to make it your own!