The Extract Tool

 

What we are going to do is to extract the cow from the background, so that we can use the cow by itself in the wave. Open the cow image in your version of Photoshop and click "Filter" then "Extract" from the top menu. The Extract window will appear.

Notice the tools on the left hand side. At the very top there is the "Edge Highlighter Tool (B)", then the "Fill Tool (G)", then the "Eraser tool (E)", then we skip two, then the "Zoom Tool (Z)" and the "Hand Tool (H)". The letters in brackets after each tool name is the shortcut key to utilise each tool. Keep these in mind as you will want to swap tools often during the extract process.

For now though select the Zoom Tool by pressing the "Z" key, position the magnifying glass over the petals of the cow and then click your mouse to zoom in as close as you want. I zoomed in a few times. From here we will be able to work around sections of the cow, then move to a different section using the Hand tool. What we want to achieve is to highlight all the edges of the cow so that we can "extract" it from its background.

Select the Edge Highlighter Tool by pressing the "B" key and on the right hand side of the Extract Screen ensure that the "Brush Size" is set to "1" in the "Tools Options" menu (depending on your image...you can go higher.....experiment). Start to draw along the very edge of the cow with the highlighter, you will see the highlighter appear in a green color. You can change the color at any time by clicking on the drop down menu for Highlight in the "Tools Options" menu. You should be seeing something like in the image below.

When you have completed the section, press the "H" key to select the Hand Tool and move the image around to the next section and continue highlighting the edge. If you make a mistake with a line, select the Erase Tool by pressing "E" and simply erase the incorrect bit and redraw using the Highlight Tool. Once you're done, double click the "Zoom Tool" to take the image back to normal. Possibly your red highlight won't be that visible at this point, but that's okay as the next step will help ensure you have things right.

Select the Fill Tool by pressing "G", position your fill bucket inside the highlighted cow and click. If you have used the Highlight Tool correctly and there are no gaps then your cow should look like the image below .

Don't panic if your fill isn't inside the highlighted flower but has spilled out into the background, this is only because there is a gap somewhere in your highlighting. Use the Zoom Tool and zoom in close enough to see if there are gaps in the highlight around the cow. Then use the Hightlight Tool and the Erase Tool, whichever is appropriate, to "fix" the highlighted edge around the flower. Use the Fill Tool again to see if you have "joined the dots" and if only the flower is highlighted you can click "Preview" on the top right of the Extract Screen.

If you're happy with your cow click "OK". You'll find yourself back in your original image, only this time the background has disappeared and you should be looking at an image something like the one below.

The next step is to use the Move Tool and drag the cow onto the wave picture. At this point you might notice that some of the edges are a little rough. I used the Blur Tool, zoomed in close and touched up some of the rough edges and of course played with the Brightness/Contrast a bit.  For blending into the water the eraser tool was a big help.