Knowing how to extract an image correctly is a vital graphic design skill, and this tutorial will show you exactly how to do it. I wish someone had showed me this when I first got started as a web developer. There are so many tutorials out there that try to teach you how to do this with the “magic wand” tool, or the “polygonal lasso” tool, but these tutorials are WRONG! lol. The extraction tool is the only way to go when it comes to image extraction in photoshop.

Step By Step Instructions:

1. Open the image you want to extract in photoshop.

2. Create a copy of the background layer just in case you mess up.

3. With the copy layer selected go to –>Filter –>Extract

4. Choose the highlighter from the left menu.

5. Choose the highlighter size you would like to use from the right menu.

6. Check the smart highlighting box on the right side menu.

7. Now start from the bottom, and highlight around what you want to extract.

8. When you’re done highlighting select –>PREVIEW

9. Use the cleanup and touchup tools on the left menu.

10. Press OK and you’re done!

Remember to hide all layers that you don’t want to show.  Your new extracted layer will be on top so you must hide the bottom layers by clicking the eye symbol in the leftside control panel in photoshop.