Russell Brown - Advanced Masking Tute

Always had problems making nice masks with brushes, extract, colour range and lasso tools etc.

Here is a fantastic video tutorial by Russell Brown which cleverly uses channels to create a perfect mask.
http://av.adobe.com/russellbrown/AdvancedMasking.mov

In summary..
1. Create channels adjustment layer. Click the monochrome checkbox.
2. Adjust channels for maximum contrast
3. Save merged image (Ctrl-A, Ctrl-Shift-C) as a new alpha channel in channels palette.
4. Increase contrast in alpha channel with Levels and Dodge and burn tools
5. Repeat for different parts of the image
6. Ctrl click the alpha channel icon to make it a selection
7. Ctrl shift click other channels to add them to selection
8. Click icon at bottom of channels palette to turn new added selection into a new channel.
9. Apply the new channel as a selection - ctrl click.
10. Get back to Layers and click layer mask to apply.