I had a friend show me that once, and it was a multi-step process but the final result looked good. Sorry I can't remember the steps or even the tools that were used. But here's what I do know:

The latest version of Photoshop Elements (which I own) has something called Magic Extractor that is kind of like one of those Dummies books built right into the software. You don't even have to know what you are doing and you can remove the background from an object. Always when removing the background it helps to have it have some contrast compared to the object you want to keep. Say, for instance, you have black on black it makes it a little more difficult to separate the object from the background.