sssweb - 3:11 pm on Jun 27, 2009 (gmt 0)

I'm not sure if this is an appropriate question for this site, but I'm trying to find a shortcut for a repeated task I perform with my graphics app (I use GIMP, which is a lot like Photoshop).

How do I quickly select the background of an object that has small gaps in its border (imagine a circle with dotted line as border)? The wand tool doesn't work because the color is the same inside & outside the object, so the selection spills inside.

I've taken to copying the layer, filling in the gaps with the pencil tool, selecting the background, then switching back to the original layer -- but that's time-consuming. Seems like there should be an easy trick.