photoshop 8.0 background help

I have Photoshop 8.0 CS and what I'm trying to do is cut out a background of a pictue and replace it with another one. The problem is I don't want the picture to look messy or uneven. Well what I'm trying to do is take the picture of a person and put them on a new background without the outline looking messy. How do I do it? I tried the magic wand, but it can't select all as a whole

use quick mask

I used that technique years ago to rip Tails out of a picture with Sonic, then used a picture of an Oz bush fire, and whacked Tails onto it

The a clan member then added the text

wytey said:

use quick mask

Click to expand...

Either that, or a steady hand and lots of patience with the pen tool.