Well there is not real one solution for masking and no magic bullet.  Often you need to utilized multiple techniques to produce a single mask.  One technique I perfer is called channel masking.  That combined with photoshops quick masking mode, brushs, and selection tools you can generate quick, quality masks of almost any subject as long as there is some amount of seperation in color,  saturation, or density.

Here is a tutorial:  http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/photoshop/l/blrbps_2fwks.htm

A google search will result in more examples of this technique.  

One trick is to channel masking in alternet color spaces. To avoid any color compresssion, make a duplicate of the image convert to CYMK, generate your mask and then copy the mask back to your RGB or LAB document.

You can also mix and merge channel using the Channel mixer.

J. Stuart J.