Hi everyone - I was wondering if someone could give me some input (no pun) on some of the best input devices to use for doing things like cropping out picture elements to insert into other images. In other words; SOMETHING that can be used to do precise edge tracing of say a person in a photo, copy that portion out and save and/or paste the copied portion elsewhere.

I have used a decent mouse to do this for a long time, but there has got to be something nicer to use for edge tracing - I just don't know which to look at, a drawing tablet? A mouse pen that actually works like a pen or pencil? (I tried one of the Penclic pens, the Mouse D2 and it was terrible). I need something that would WORK like having a pencil or pen, tracing out what I want form a photo or image and save it without having the results you normally get with a mouse or something and have to clean the edges up so much.

Any help and/or ideas on some piece of input hardware would be greatly appreciated!

JerrisPro graphics designers use tools bother that some kind of mouse.
A Puck is often used in CAD work. On a table it has absolute position.
A pressure pen is used fro free hand drawing. It can be pressure sensitive.
Either can be wireless when used on a SPECIAL tablet.
A mouse can also be used on the tablet.

In the image above note the tablet has special areas to invoke functions of you art editor. Check before you BUY which tools work with the programs you use.
Prices vary a lot. Expect to pay hundreds of dollars for a real good processional set of tools. It depends on your needs.
Here is an introduction.

Graphics Tablet Features and Advantages
EDIT: My recommendation: at least a 4 by 6 with two devices.; puck and pen.Thank you so much for the info - I had found that article too, was REALLY helpful in a sense but thought I'd see about finding some people that use this technique (actually masking is what it is called I think) to get their experience info too - BUT - the article you sent and info is the one I did find most useful and probably will point me towards this kind of setup - thank you - JerrisHere is another image. You can use it to paint on screen. That is kind of at the high end.


Here is a review of several popular digitizing tablets. These are more economical that a touch sensitive display.
http://www.intellireview.com/Top-Digitizing-Tablets/

But technology is advancing. A touch display might become affordable soon.
Take a look at this:
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/sponsors-of-tomorrow/ultrabook.html?cid=sem117p211739&gclid=CL7R5Kzb2bYCFcfd4AodbjIA-A