Images containing lattice-like structures, including irregular shapes like tree limbs, can often be tackled more quickly with the following techniques:
Using the Color Sampler tool and the Color Workspace to isolate foreground and background colors and assign them to the appropriate type of mask.
By setting the number of edges on the Edge Finding palette to 100% and using the Global brushes to mask, adjusting the brush strength to control how much of the image is masked with each stroke.
The following example illustrates the first technique:
1. Load the image.
2. Open the Color Workspace.
3. Select the colors present in the background, then click the Delete (red) paint bucket to mask the selected colors with the Delete mask.
If there are areas where the foreground colors are the same as the background, you can use patches to divide up the image and use the Color Workspace separately in each patch.
4. Because this image has so much fine structure in the foreground areas, set the Blend Mask Width setting on the Edge Blending palette to "Thin."
5. Use the Clean tool to fill in any small holes in the areas masked so far.
6. Use the Auto-Fill with Keep command from the Image menu to mask the foreground area automatically.
7. Inspecting the masks to find any problems that may need touch-up.
8.Click the Create Cut-out button.
This image shows the cut-out composited against a light-green background.