Hello everyone, this is Bill. I am just an average home WinXP PC user, I've never done anything with photos outside of Microsoft Paint. I have been hunting for a simple program to do more with home family photos and found the Gimp website but have not downloaded it yet. What I am trying to do, to see if Gimp can do, is cut out unwanted parts of photos then blend in the background. I have studied some pages at http://docs.gimp.org/en/ <http://docs.gimp.org/en/> , specifically 1.5. Removing Unwanted Objects from an Image <http://docs.gimp.org/en/gimp-imaging-photos.html#gimp-using-photography\ -retouching> , Lasso and Magic Wand tools, but I am not yet clear on selecting the borders of the cutout. Can Magic Wand automatically select an area of contrast to remove? I think I can figure out filling in the background afterwards. I will now try to upload an example section of a photo called 'beaveredit' and ask, for instance, can the 'hand' be removed? I have also been looking at the Adobe Photoshop Elements but that is such a HUGE program and too expensive for what little editing I want to do. Thanks