The illustration below shows the 6 steps used in the avatar photo edit tutorial to create a new graphic for this Life with Corky puppy website and his CorkyStory Twitter account.

The large photo left is the original photo of the dog taken while going for a ride. The large photo right is the new avatar with a more dramatic look including a blurred background and better contrast on the puppy’s face.

Tutorial steps from before (left) and after (right) are included below the illustration:

Tutorial sequence for avatar photo edit in 6 steps marked A through F:

A: Original photo without any edits. Zoomed in to trace the puppy’s head.
B: Photo mask filled form (in red) made by tracing in the previous step.
C: Clipped puppy’s head in vector artwork with all background removed.
D: Original photo (A) cloned with blur applied to the entire photograph.
E: The cropped head from (C) is placed on top of the blurred photo (D).
F: Brightness adjustments of the cropped head creates the final version.

Besides the links above to the home page and the Twitter account, the original photo of Corky the puppy before cropping may be viewed on Corky’s website on page 3 of his Fleet Peeples Dog Park photo gallery at LifeWithCorky.com.