What you need to do is "feather" the selection. Select the bit of the image you want using the usual tools, then go to Selections/Modify in the menu (it's someting like that - I don't have a copy of PSP to hand right now) and pick "Feather Selection". Set it to a few pixels and it will blur the edges of the selection, giving a better result when you paste it elsewhere.

Be aware that feathering only really works well when copying between similar backgrounds - if you're cutting somebody out of a light background and pasting them onto a dark one, you can get a halo effect around them.  

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd

Thanks for that Chris. I have indeed tried feathering and as you rightly say this can lead to a feathering effect. I was rather hoping that there was a clear way to use masks where I could roughly surround the area to be cut and then get the package to make some assumptions like a magic wand. Alternatively I understand there is a way of doing this using layers.

The way I do it involves a bit more manual effort:

Step 1: Get the best selection around what I want with the tools available. Generally it's the lasso tool set to "smart edge", but it varies.

Step 2: Create a new layer, and use the paint bucket to flood-fill my selection on it with a colour not used in the picture - shocking pink or bright green for example.

Step 3: Dismiss the selection, and set the opacity of the new layer to 50% or so (you need to be able to see both the solid colour fill and the picture underneath)

Step 4: (The tedious bit) Zoom in on the picture and use the brush and eraser tools to fine-tune the selection. When you've finished, you'll have a solid colour area sitting exactly over what you want to cut out.

Step 5: Use the magic wand to select the solid colour block

Step 6: Switch layers to the one with the picture in it

Step 7: Feather the selection, if you need to

Step 8: Cut & paste the selection to wherever you need it.

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd

Thanks Chris

I will give it a go

Mondeoman