“Can you cut this latte out of the background so it doesn’t have a white box when I put it on this coloured background?"
Easy! I’ll just click the background with the magic wand tool and delete!
Whoops! That's not what I wanted.
Sometimes shortcuts just aren’t worth it. Photoshop’s magic wand tool is simple to use but not very precise, often leaving you with a jagged edge, hint of neighbouring colours, and missing pieces. The result is occassionally passable online but print will be much less forgiving, making your work look sloppy and amateurish. The quick selection tool gives better control than the wand, but for most images it’s worth taking the time to draw a proper clipping path.
Now that's more like it:
