Best way to get crisp, clean cuts in Photoshop

OK,

I can never seem to get really clean cuts in Photoshop. I use the lasso tool to get as close as I can, then I end up just erasing around the edges as best I can afterwards. But it hardly looks good, and nowhere near professional. Any tips or tricks to get cropping an image or object perfectly?

Thanks in advance (JAK)

I created a tutorial on masking here, you can get really decent results with this method. If you want to “up” the skill level the most professional results are achieved using the “Pen Tool” in Photoshop.

[edit on 29-8-2005 by kinglizard]

Yes the pen tool is wonderful for selecting... I recommend it..... I wish I had a photoshop tutor. Right now I'm into making abstract stuff out of different brushes and stuff.

There are actually a bunch of ways to achieve really good selections using any of the tools; but I'm not that good at explaining how to do it in words without images. Being that I don't have a tutorial I created I went and looked some up for you:

graphicssoft.about.com...

Lesson 4 deals mainly in this....

Also I find a great soruce of info for any artistic bent with photoshop to come from:

elfwood.lysator.liu.se...


I also have some great digital art tutorial CD-ROMS and have taken classes in photoshop. If I ever get around to making tutorials myself, I will make sure that I post it.

My favorite method of selection for really intricate and detailed work is to make a basic selection using any of the basic tools, then flipping on the quick mask mode located directly under the two color palletes to the right and using the paint brush to finish my selection. Takes a while but it alows me to have greater control over very hard or difficult areas. Then I switch it back to standard mode to do whatever I need to do with the selection. This is also a nice way to make some of the selected areas have a hard line while other portions are more softened or 'feathered'.

Always remember that 'cntrl z' which undoes last action 'shift' which lets you add to your selection and 'alt' which allows you to remove from your selection in standard mode are your friends in making selections. If you need any more advice you can always U2U me about it, Hope that helps....

Thanks guys, really good help, exactly what I needed.