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Please refer to two attachments.
1. It is a very good idea to work on duplicates of the orignial photo(s).
2. Extracting an image from a photo is simply a matter of masking either---
A. What you want to keep --or--
B. What you want to eliminate---
---whichever is easier. After the masking is finished, you can use Invert Mask to switch between A. and B. Depending on which you mask, finish up by using Cut or Copy or Clear Page and Paste. Basically, that is all there is to it. It is really just what you often do in regular paintings.
3. There are no hard and fast rules, techniques, or methods for the masking. It depends on the complexity of the image to be extracted and on the accuracy you require.
4. You may get by with quick masking with a Masking Brush, then if need be, blend the ragged edges after pasting into the composite. There are various ways you can apply a Gaussian Blur to smooth ragged edges.
5. In some cases, the Magic Wand will make quick work of the masking.
6.Or you may have to zoom way in and mask pixel by pixel.
7. For fussy work, you can mask pixel by pixel until you have outlined the entire image to be extracted. (You can mask straight line potions by holding down Shift while clicking point to point.) When the outline is complete, use a Masking Brush and/or the Magic Wand to finish the masking.
8. You can invent masking techniques never before tried. You might try converting a duplicate to greyscale, then painting your mask on the greyscale.
9. It doesn't matter how you acquire the desired mask. It will be present on all layers. So it doesn't matter if your mask is converted from a black and white image. It will still appear on the photo just as if painted on the photo.
10. Skillful use of the Magic Wand can require some experimenting. That is the subject for a separate tutorial, if anyone cares to tackle it.
The flower example demonstrates a couple, three techniques that can be used in various combinations. It uses a couple rather advanced masking tools to apply feathering to smooth ragged edges of the extraced image. But basically, it is simple painting a mask, then extract the image.
Refer to the flower attachment. The task is to extract the blossom from the photo.
1. Photo on Layer 2
2. Layer 3. Zoom in an start outline with Smooth Pen, 2 or 3 pixels, Black. (I zoomed in to 500%.)
3. Complete outline. Important not to have any gaps in outline. Doesn't matter how messy the outline is outside of the image to be extracted.
4. This is the only possible tricky part. Mask completely inside of outline. Use the Magic Wand and/or Masking Brush.
In this case, I used the Wand > Contiguous 2% Tolerance. Masked perfectly with one click. Depending on the colors, etc., you might have to hold down the right mouse and sort of paint the mask with the Wand, or you might have to do some masking with a brush. The outline acted as a boundary for the Wand.
5. Mask > Create Image from Mask.
6. Clear Mask. Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur (Set Blur to 0.7 to 2 % depending on how much feathering you want.)
**Mask > Create Mask from Luminance**
7. Layer 2. Invert Mask.
8. Edit > Copy
9. Layer 4. Edit > Paste Into
Done.
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