This video by Chris from Spoon Graphics does a good job of going over many of the options available inside Photoshop for cutting things out. The most common use is to cut out the subject from the background, to place it on a different image or background – as in when making composite images.
Watch as he goes over the options for cutting things out:
Quick and dirty selection tools and methods:
- Eraser tool (not the best choice, this is shown in the video)
- The Magic Wand tool
- Quick Selection tool
Pro techniques tools include:
- Manually drawing the selection
- Lasso tool (can be frustrating and tricky to use)
- Pen tool (also using Paths)
- Tonal selection
- Channels (plus Curves or Levels)
- Color range (quick selections based on tones in an image)
- Layer masks
- Refine edge tool
- Defringe to remove halos and outlines
- Paint hair back in manually
- Buy a Photoshop plugin like Topaz Remask
Here’s a second video from Glyn Dewis that puts some of those techniques to use to cut out a tree from the background.
Do you know any other methods for doing cut outs? What’s your favorite? Please share in the comments below.
