What is the best method for removing the background of an object that does not have clear lines? I have a project that I'm working on to remove the background of a picture of a guy wearing a wool hat. The wool hat is fuzzy and when a dark background is applied there is a halo effect around him. Any certain tool or method to get this done clean?

Pen tool. create a detailed path select the path and us a Layer mask or just remove the outer area. Use the blur tool to soften the edges:)

Well usually when I work with a fuzzy thing I delete background with hair and I draw hair back. You see at this picture I made hair on the animal ears.[img]http://foto.rambler.ru/users/thest0rm/1/cat_dog/[/img]

http://foto.rambler.ru/users/thest0rm/1/cat_dog/ here

Or here http://www.worth1000.com/view.asp?entry=197133&display=photoshop - I cut a mouse and had th make hair so it will look real.

Blur tool did the trick! I ended up using the magnetic lasso for the shape of the head, the eraser to clean up a little bit, then used the blur tool to dull the edge.

work with layer masks, also give the extract filter a shot.

Yep, all of the above. Also, if you're using a lasso tool, go around the object slightly larger and set the feather (in the options bar) to a few pixels. That sometimes works for fuzzy objects.

(try not to use the erase tool because when you do you'll inevitably wish you could backup... 5 miutes ago... doh!)

layer mask 1st

then magnifying the pic to "draw" away the edges is tedious but
you can learn a lot about drawing and you may see something in that level of detail
that you may or may not have noticed before

in zoom mode you often get a better understanding of which colors in your image can be used to make edges stand out or blend into the replacment background

although sometimes you can get so fixated on some minute detail that disappears when you go back down to normal size that you wonder why you spent the time...but

bottom line
hopefully you have fun with what you are working on!

Wett-I make dublicate of layers before every new big action, cause it happens all the time when you wish to come back)))

I'm still learning how to mask so hopefully I get that down pretty good soon. I didn't really know what it was used for until not too long ago. For what I was working on, what I did worked. Probably not the most efficient way but it really didn't take too long. (the photo wasn't that big) I was pretty careful with the erase tool and zoomed way in. It was just a little clean up that was needed.

I tried the extract filter but it was a little choppy but for some objects it has worked real well. I also used the magic eraser, the background eraser and whatever else. It's funny how there seems to be 100 different ways to get the same thing done in PS.

Anyway thanks for the feedback from everyone. Even if I didn't use your suggestions this time I'm sure I'll need them for other projects!