Hi!

I hardly ever work with the extraction tool as shown in the tutorial, but my method is also pretty straightforward... I can't make such cool tutorials, so I'll try to describe the steps as clearly as I can. If you want, you can send me your e-mail address in a private message and then I'll provide you with some screenshots...

This method is harder to learn then semi-automated ones, but the (for me unbeatable) pro is that it'll always work, no matter how tricky the image...

But anyways, steps described in words for starters...

1. Duplicate the layer you want to extract. This way, you can always start over when things go badly wrong! You can do this by right-clicking the layer and using the context menu (4th item from the top, "duplicate layer..."). A pop-up will show, giving you the chance to change the name of the layer. It might be handy to change it into something like "extraction" to avoid confusion. This is optional, clicking OK is just fine.

2. Hide the original layer by clicking on the eye icon next to it, to be able to tell apart the extraction from the original later on.

3. Select the "Quick Selection Tool" (from now on called QST), 4th icon from the top. It's a brush with a small dotted circle behind it, but it's possible the "Magic Wand Tool" is on top (a sparkling stick). You can check this by hovering your mouse over the icon - the tool tip will tell you which one is active. If the Magic Wand is active instead of the QST, click and hold until a small pull-out menu appears and select the QST.

4. Draw over the parts of the image you'd like to KEEP. 'Marching ants' (a moving dotted line) will appear around the parts of the image you touched to indicate it's selected. Normally the tool is pretty accurate (provided it's a good quality image), but if it "colors outside the lines", simply hold down the alt-key when drawing to remove the parts you don't want. It's OK if the selection isn't yet 100% perfect but try to be as accurate as you can, it'll save you work later.

So far so good? OK, let's move on...

5. Go to Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal selection. The option 'Layer Mask' is in the top half of the list, 'Reveal selection' is the 3rd item.

6. The roughly extracted image will now appear, freed from its surroundings. It might very well be possible that the extraction is good enough already (especially if the object clearly stands out in the original picture). If this is the case, go to step 10 to finish off. Otherwise, continue with step 7.

7. You'll notice that another rectangle has appeared next to the layer preview in the layer palette. Click the right rectangle (showing only black and white - this is called a mask) ALWAYS before doing ANY touch-ups regarding the extraction!!

8. Pick a not too large brush with a hardness of anything between 0 and 50% (just 'feel' what seems best!). You can change this in the tool option bar that appears when the brush tool is active. Just click the current brush and drag the sliders. Also, zoom in so you can see the edges up & close.

9. Select black as foreground color and paint over any unwanted leftovers from the background. Don't be afraid to remove too much. If this happens, select white as foreground color and paint again - the part will re-appear (since it is not gone - only hidden). Work around the whole of the edge until you reach your starting point again. Now the extraction should look as perfect as possible (trust me, 100% perfect is nearly impossible and requires looooooots of exercise!).

10. Since the extraction is now almost complete, it is time to solidify things and to actually remove the background that was only hidden up until now (making it easy to change the extraction, but not needed anymore). If you found the extraction fiddly or time-consuming, duplicate the extraction layer and hide the copy like you did in step 1. Doing so, you will always be able to re-do the extraction or to improve certain parts (or redo the whole shebang if you don't like it the next morning...).

Now, pay attention! It's not hard, but it has to be done correctly to work!

11. RIGHT-click the right rectangle (showing only black and white, next to the layer preview) and select "apply layer mask" from the context menu. It's the 3rd option from the top.

12. Open the image with the snowy forest (if not opened yet). Go back to your extracted image, click on the layer with the finished extraction and RIGHT-click once more. Select the familiar option "duplicate layer" BUT! Watch out! Before clicking OK, select the file with the snowy forest from the jump list (under "destination", next to "document"). Click OK.

ALL DONE!! CONGRATS!!

There are further possibilities for touching up the extraction (if the hair looks too harshly cut out f.e.), using the smudge tool and its other brothers and sisters in the tool panel. But it would take us too far to explain all that here, this is basic to intermediate extraction. If you would like to learn advanced extraction also, just send me a message!

GOOD LUCK and HAVE FUN!!