How to Cut Out a Spiky Caterpillar with Photoshop's Extract Filter (Beginner-Friendly)

Prepare the layers

Before we start, a bit of groundwork:

1. Open your image.
2. Duplicate the layer three times (Ctrl+J three times), so you have several backups to work on.
3. Create a new "base color" layer at the very bottom. Pick green or another bright color so it is easy to see how clean the cutout is.

First Extract pass — the black hairs

Next we use the Extract filter on the hardest part: the fine black hairs.

1. Select "Layer 1".
2. Click the menu bar → Filter → Extract.
3. In the dialog that opens, zoom in on the image for better precision.
4. Pick the "Edge Highlighter" tool from the left toolbar and set the brush size to 4 pixels (the smaller the brush, the finer the result).
5. Tick "Force Foreground" at the bottom and set the color to black (so the black hairs are picked up).

Trace slowly — one hair at a time!

This is the most important part of the whole process, and the one that tests your patience:

• The caterpillar's hairs are fine and dense, and they blend heavily into the background, so do not take the shortcut of a big brush.
• Work like you are embroidering: cover the hairs one by one. Don't blink, and don't let your hand shake.
• If you paint over the wrong spot, gently erase it with the "Eraser" in the top-left corner.
• For even finer hairs, set the brush smaller than 4 pixels.

Check the result — the black hairs are out!

"Layer 1" should now have a transparent background with only the crisp black hairs left on it.

Second Extract pass — the white hairs

Now it is the white hairs' turn:

1. Duplicate "Layer 1" to get "Layer 1 copy".
2. Open the Extract filter again, and this time change "Force Foreground" to white (so the white hairs are picked up).
3. You can raise the brush size a little, for example to 8 pixels, to paint over all the white areas quickly.

Erase the excess white hairs

After extracting you may see some over-rendered patches:

1. Click "OK" and you will notice that some areas look too pure white.
2. Add a new "white mask", then use the Eraser tool (with the foreground color set to black) to carefully erase the surplus white.

Paint in the body (with a black mask)

To make the whole thing look natural, refine the body itself:

1. Duplicate the layer once more and name it "Layer 1 copy 2".
2. Add a "black mask" (hold Alt and click the Add Layer Mask button).
3. Set the foreground color to black and use the Eraser tool to reveal the outline of the caterpillar's body (the solid parts, not the hairs).

💡 Tip: If the hairs still don't stand out enough, try the following to strengthen the detail:

• First click the little eye icon in front of the black mask (to view the mask itself).
• Use the "Lasso tool" (set to about 20 pixels) to roughly select the area of the caterpillar's body.
• Right-click and choose "Inverse", then use "Levels" to deepen the texture of the hairs.

Final touches — trim the stalks, stamp, color grade

Time to wrap up with a few small adjustments that lift the image:

1. Keep using the Eraser tool to clean up the "stalk-like" parts at the top and bottom of the caterpillar.
2. Without changing the current layer, press Alt+Ctrl+Shift+E to run "Stamp Visible" (which merges all visible layers into one new standalone layer).
3. On that new layer, raise the "Saturation" and "Sharpness" values a little so the caterpillar looks more vivid and three-dimensional.