Transparency Selection

[Kulish, Chris (Des Moines)]

I realize this is probably a newbie question ...

Is there any way to select the transparent section of an image?

What I am trying to create is an image that will look decent on any color
background (hence the transparency).  I want the image to have a *cut out*
appearance so I was going to select the transparent portion and use the drop
shadow script.

Or, is there a better way to do this?

Thanks!

CK