What Technique for better result in removing background

[silverbirch]

I took this photo a couple of days ago and noticed the flax appears as though it is part of the tui's head. I used Photshop CS2 cloning tool and leaf slection, but am not really happy with it. It is my first attempt, so it may just be that I need to practice. Any suggestions for improving welcome - thanks.

[i speak in math]

I would select the bird using the pen tool, convert the path to a selection so that you don't risk messing up the bird, and then use a much larger and softer brush when cloning. Find an area that looks to be about the same amount of oof and use that.

[edbayani]

so many ways to do this. i find this one easy to do. i use cs2 also. press Q to enter quickmask. choose the brush tool and set it to the hardest and 100% opacity and the size, just a bit bigger than the bird's eye. click on the edge of the head of the bird successively to follow the contour of the bird where the flax is and the small broken branch sticking out to cover the unwanted image areas and extend the brushing upwards, about half an inch. then with the blur tool at 100%, blur the upper edge of the mask but avoid blurring the edge touching the bird. press Q again to exit quickmask to make a selection. move the selection to an area with similar leaf patterns and press ctrl/J to put the selected area in another layer. move this and place it over the area that you want covered, adjust by using arrows on the keyboard., flatten.