One-Click Cutout Methods in Photoshop, So You Stop Going Cross-Eyed

There's no shortage of cutout tools, but the one-click options really come down to two: Select Subject for images with clean edges, and channels plus a recorded action for complicated backgrounds. Match the method to the image you're holding instead of forcing one tool on everything.

1. Method 1
   Quick Selection tool (good for people, animals, leaves — anything with complicated edges)

   1. ① Open the image and press W for the Quick Selection tool, or click the brush-with-dashed-box icon in the toolbar.
   2. ② In the options bar choose Add to Selection, and use [ and ] to resize the brush tip. Just paint over the subject and it finds the edges on its own. The result is honestly impressive.
   3. ③ Painted over the background? Hold Alt and paint to subtract from the selection. Don't be afraid of overshooting — you can always go back and forth.
   4. ④ Once the subject is selected, click Select and Mask in the options bar, then use the Refine Edge Brush (the second icon) to sweep over hair and fuzzy edges. Tick Decontaminate Colors and set the output to New Layer with Layer Mask. A cutout machine in your pocket.
2. Method 2
   Color Range (good for flat backgrounds — white or blue ID photo backdrops, for example)

   1. ① Click Select → Color Range in the menu. Honestly that entry point is buried; it took me ages to find it the first time.
   2. ② Click the background color with the eyedropper (white, say), then adjust Fuzziness until the background in the preview is black and the subject is white. Roughly right is fine.
   3. ③ After you click OK you get a selection of the background. Press Ctrl+Shift+I to invert it and the subject is selected.
   4. ④ Just press Ctrl+J to copy the selection to a new layer, or click the mask button to add a mask, and the background is swapped in a second.

   Small tip: if background color lingers on the edge, clean it up with Layer → Matting → Defringe after cutting out. It helps a lot.

There's also a more mindless option — newer PS versions have an Object Selection tool, and the shortcut is W; cycle through a few times and you'll find it. Lasso the subject and it selects automatically, which is about as close to true one-click as it gets. Older versions don't have it, though, and the methods above are more universal.

I stumbled with Color Range at first too. I assumed clicking the background with the eyedropper was enough, but I hadn't tuned the fuzziness, so half the edge was left out. So play with that slider — once you're used to it, it's fast.

One last plug for that online PS (https://www.zaixianps.cc). When I was travelling with a laptop that had no software installed, I opened it in the browser and knocked out several urgent images. Quick Selection and Color Range both work, and the experience isn't far off the desktop version. If installing PS isn't an option, give it a try.

Anyway, cutout always comes down to picking the method that fits the image; no single tool covers everything. But once these two are in your hands, at least 90% of everyday images take a few minutes. That's all from me — post your questions and I'll answer.