Need help with making renders

The problem I'm having with making a render is that the magic wash can only do so much in photoshop. I can get rid of most of the big chunks for a picture, but i need help getting rid of the background left in between pieces of hair, or pieces that are selected with the magic wand that also select part of the subject, because the matching colors of the subject and background are too close.

Any recommended strategies/programs for this?

 

1. Change the tolerance of the magic wand.
2. Use the lasso tools
3. Go to gfx forums with tutorials on how to render properly

 

First... Learn to use the Pen Tool. Pen Tool is the god in rendering images.
Second... Zoom in on the image accordingly. If the image is small zoom in a lot. If the image is HUUGE you don't have to zoom in a lot.
Tip, when you can use the pen tool to trace your image just right click and click "make selection". Now press "ctrl+i" to invert the selection. Now, press the delete button and you now have your image rendered!