Make extracted image look natural in new bg?

What is the best way to make an extraction look natural in a new background? Specifically people.

Thanks

Well you have to do a really good job of cutting them out of their backgrounds. Including hair, etc. There are some tutorials on teamphotoshop to help with that. Then they need to cast a realistic shadow, and the hardest part is probably matching the lighting on the person so that it looks like it belongs in the background you chose.

what is the best plugin to extract an image from it's Background?

I used to be real good at using just the Magic Wand tool, but now that I am a little more advanced the Extraction tool (Ctrl+Alt+X) works very well and you should go this route too.

First open the pic that you want to extract, use the edge highlighter and go around the edges of the part of the image you want to extract (use smart highlighting for everything EXCEPT hair), then use the bucket tool and fill in the highlighted area and click Preview.

Play with that tool and you'll be set.

The best plugin for extraction? I've got extensis maskpro at work, and I've found it just about useless as its results are never as good as using standard built-in photoshop methods for extracting/masking.

I personally only use layer masks and the pen tool for cutting objects out of their background. Seems to work for me. The extract tool I haven't found it gives very good results, so I'm sticking with my other methods.

i think the extract tool is a little clumsy as well, so i wanted to know what the third parties had to offer.
I often see mask pro and knockout advertised in magazines and i was just wandering if they were worth investing in.

I have Corel Knockout and I don't like it too much. It's a standalone program AND it installs spyware. :(

The built in Extraction tool suits my needs. I also use Quick Mask mode from time to time but only for easier selections.