How to make a favicon?

How can I create a favicon for my blog? That was my question and I googled a lot for the answer. I got lot of ideas. Some of them offered me to use their free icons, but I didn’t want them. I wanted my own design, my own photo. But from these pieces of information I had found on the internet, I understood in the end that I could use my design if I could do a PNG format and square image. And yeah, with the iPhoto, I could make this. 

First of all, I made a drawing that I photoed and after I reduced it under 100 KB. But this black and white graphics didn’t work well. So I copied the outlines of the black and white drawing and coloured it green. With some manipulation with the iPhoto - I dragged and moved the pointers of the contrast, the highlights and the shadows to the top - I got a very sharp image with a very white background. 

Now, you can see my new favicon next to the link of my blog in the address bar. But why was it sooo important to me? Because this tiny icon/logo signifies and represents my blog. My blog will be recognizable for the first sight. So if you want to make your blog more unique, you can do your own icon as well. If I could do it, you can do it!

After some manipulation