Use Photoshop's Background Eraser Tool.
If you find yourself needing to quickly remove the background from an image in Photoshop, take a moment to play with the background eraser tool. (Click-and-hold on the eraser in Photoshop's tool pallet to choose this tool). The background eraser samples the color in the center of the brush. It deletes that color and softens the edges so that color halos are not visible if the foreground object is later pasted into another image.
Watch the short two-minute video tutorial demonstrating this technique in action. Over at CreativeTechs.
Thanks, it's very useful to know. I'm going to have to remember this one.
Posted by: z | March 10, 2007 at 12:28 PM
Thank you for sharing this tip and website! This will save me a lot of time!!
Posted by: Rebecca | March 10, 2007 at 06:51 PM
What a cool trick... but I have such an old version of Photoshop, I don't think this function is there...
Posted by: Sam | March 11, 2007 at 06:50 AM
yep, that's pretty much one of the best tools ever.
Posted by: Kelsey | March 11, 2007 at 06:22 PM
Wow! It was there all this time and I didn't know! I used it right away -- it wasn't quite as easy as on the video b/c my background was not seamless, I was trying to remove ugly cabinets, etc. But it still worked better than trying to use the magic wand. Thanks so much for the tip!
Posted by: Arlyn | March 11, 2007 at 06:53 PM
Yes thank you! I didn't know the eraser had a background eraser. This will be so handy!
Posted by: Caryn | March 12, 2007 at 04:30 PM
More of these little tips & tricks (with video) please!
Posted by: Ben | March 13, 2007 at 11:30 PM
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/608891/cool_photo_edit_photoshop/
Posted by: Photochopper | May 27, 2007 at 11:58 PM
Can't believe I've overlooked this option for so long. Thanks!
Posted by: Best File Eraser Tool | August 26, 2008 at 12:39 AM