The short answer: select the background, then press Delete.
There are several techniques for selecting the background. The best one (or ones) to use depends on the characteristics of the background and the foreground. If the background is a solid color, the magic wand often works well. If there is good contrast between the foreground and background, I like the magnetic lasso. The selection brush is useful for some backgrounds. Using several of the tools in succession is usually necessary.
Can you post an example of the photo?
Thank you so much for your help. How do I post my picture, so you can see what I am trying to do?
In the upper third of your tool bar there are four selection tools. The marquee, lasso tool (with three variations), magic wand and selection brush. You can also use the eraser tool to remove a background. They all have their advantages according to the selection to be made. But as Stu mentions, using combinations of selection tools is sometimes the way to go.
Selection is a skill that improves with practice. Nothing really automatic here. Some are easier than others. Much of this depends about the contrast between the background and subject and the shape of the object being selected. A basketball will be much easier to select than a spider web.
There are several places to post your photos. Some are free, like Yahoo or they charge like pbase.com. Many of us use the popular pbase.com where you can get a trial account or otherwise pay $23 a month for 200mb of storage. If you like, for now you can click on my name, and you will see my email address. Send me the image and I will post it for you.
