(Doh! I responded to the wrong comment the first time. This comment will be incomplete. I started it last night but I've got house guests and I don't get enough time in one sitting to finish my thoughts. At this point, if I don't post a partial response, I don't know when I'll have the time to finish.)

Do you find any of this useful?

Absolutely. Thinking about points you've made helps me distill my thoughts:
- I'm realizing is that I often focus on parts of the icon but rarely step back and look at the whole.
- I see with my brain rather than my eyes. For example, I know those eyes are oversharpened but I haven't been "seeing" them as that because I want to see clear delineation between the irises and the whites of their eyes. Since I saw the original pic and have cut it down to its essentials, I don't "see" cropping as tightly as I tend to as diminishing the image's impact because it retains as much other detail as possible.

#1: (is it Daniel from SG1?)
Yes! It is. I wasn't aware you knew about SG1.

I'd have more "void space" on the left, to "balance" the icon...
This is a fine line for me and I'm never certain where it is. When there's too much space to the side, it feels unfinished to me. Wish I had a better eye for effective use of negative space.

One thing I'm noticing in looking at my icons and your suggestions is that I'm not looking at the whole of the final product. I'm looking at the original image, deciding what I think is the key element, and cropping to emphasize that key point. I think that this could be part of my dissatisfation with cropping/composition.

#2: I should premise that I prefer textless icons 99% of the time,
I prefer to make textless icons but I continue to try to place text on mine because as a user I prefer icons that have text.

I really don't like the text.
Agreed. 100%. I couldn't place my finger on what bugged me so much about that one and you've nailed it. I even made a textless version of it originally, but unfilled space makes me nervous and the text is covering some weirdness from the original cap. I should have painted over it in black if it bugged me.

I'd use a smaller text and write the caption on the left, in the middle of the icon using a slightly darker color
One thing I do with text is "fill" a space with it and I realize I need to stop that. Mostly it's because I want to guarantee that it's legible. Thank you for suggesting alternatives because often I don't *see* how to fix what annoys me about my text.

#3: I'd fade the biggest/background image more or, in alternative, I'd make it black and white (or monochromatic). Basically, I'd "push" the smaller image out by "fading" the other one more.
This was very experimental for me - it's made not from a screen cap but from my personal photography that I took. The lighting sucked and that throws everything off.

You know what's funny? I spent hours trying to get all that color in there in a way that "supported" the images without overwhelming them -- and making that back image more obvious. Ha! The stage was black and gray. He was wearing black. His hair was black. The screen behind him was gray where his image wasn't projected. I did a handful of my photos and decided that I didn't like what I was coming up with so I stopped. Your opinion confirms what I thought.

to be continued...