Palash's suggestion should work just fine for you.

Alpha channels are the route to take. I have NEVER had good luck with the "Magic Wand" tool. The only time I use it is if I know I'll be going over the edges later. I also have had the "joy" of showing someone a work I did only to find (to my horror!) that on their monitor a whole lot of "artifacts" pop up on the image!!! Like you it looked fine on my system.

Are you going to do all the post work in PS?

Good Luck in your image, love to see it when it's done.