Beginner needs editing help

Question

I have used Paint Shop Pro for many years, but now that I have an Apple Macbook Pro, I have CS4 installed, and am trying to learn Photoshop.
I have an image of a man and I want to erase everything except the body of the man, and leave the background transparent so when I paste it you can see the other layers.
What is the easiest way to erase an image and leave the subject intact and sharp? Step by step would be appreciated.
Thank you,
Dan of Troy

Answer 1

Don’t erase.
Instead make the Background Layer a regular Layer by double-clicking it, add a Layer Mask by clicking the appropriate symbol in the Layers Panel (third from the left at the bottom) and paint all the areas You want invisible Black (hit D to set the colors back to Black and White and X to switch Foreground and Background Color).
Or use any combination of Magic Wand, Selection – Color Range, Lasso Tool and whatever else comes in handy to make Selections that conform to the outer contour of the object You want to clip and fill the areas in the Mask with Black (or White if they encompass the object to be clipped).
Depending on the background in the shot You might also look for the channel that has the most pronounced difference between foreground and background (to view them hit command-3, command-4, command-5 and to get back to Composite View command-2); then load that channel as a Selection by command-clicking on its symbol in the Channels Panel and fill the Mask with Black.
To view the Mask alone alt-click the Mask-symbol in the Layers Panel, then try to increase the contrast between the foreground and background with Curves (command-M) and improve the result with Brush, Burn. and Dodge-Tool etc. where necessary.
Anyway: If You are going to combine images You might consider converting the individual elements to Smart Objects so that repeated scaling or rotating will not degrade the elements unnecessarily.