Cobra.

But the selecting isn't exactly perfect! Best way to select objects of this kind is the polygonal lasso tool, enlarge the picture and go carefully by the edges, enter a bit inside where the edge is brighter and then drag and drop to transparent new file and save as a PSD file!

Here the edge under the head and the neck as well as on the opposite side look like having jags or is brighter than the rest, that's why I took the liberty to describe the way of selecting and because I have a lot of experience with that! Almost all my pictures are montages in which I used PSD files of various objects!

PDE

Hi Pierre,

  Thank you for commenting. Its really appriciate sharing your expriance and tips with new comers like me.

Thanks again! 

Hi Anura.  What Pierre said but you if you have CS3 or later you can use the Quick Select tool just under the lasso on this very nicely.  Enlarge the image so that you can see the area edges and adjust the "marching ants" to the exact edge. Use the Alt button to switch from add to subtract the line.

After you make your adjustments (you can put the cursor in the selected area and Right Click to select "Select Inverse" when you want to work on just the bg too..) use the History tool with a small blurred or sharp brush to get rid of the tell tale edges of which Pierre speaks.

On a snake shot like this I think I would go for a vertical crop.

Anyway, a fine closeup, thanks for sharing.