Knowing how to do a face swap in Photoshop is convenient for every photographer. You can use this technique to fix closed eyes or just swap heads for fun. This tool is also useful if you own an e-commerce business and want to add variety to your product photos.
Whatever you need to use it for, here is an easy way to swap faces in Photoshop.
Using Face Swap in Photoshop: Will It Work for Your Pictures?
Whether a face swap will look good depends on a few factors. The most important ones are the positioning of the head andlighting.
The position of the head you want to replace has to be similar to the head you are going to copy. This will get you the most natural result. You can bend and distort a flat surface in Adobe Photoshop, but that doesn’t work for a human face.
It won’t look natural if you have to bend and twist a face to make it fit. No amount of retouching will help that.
Also, the light on both faces must be similar. Putting the head or the face of a person in direct sunlight on the body of a person in the shade is very difficult. It is impossible to make the image look natural when the difference is too big.
If you wish to create a face swap, Photoshop will be your best choice. Something like this is not easy or possible with Adobe Lightroom.
Keep it simple when you try to replace a face for the first time. Find photos with faces that have almost the same position and lighting. The best way to start is to use two nearly identical photos.
I will swap heads between two photos with the same evening light in this example.
How to Make a Face Swap in Photoshop: Step-by-Step
Step 1. Open Both Photos in Photoshop
Open the photos and put them next to each other. Zoom in on the image you want to copy the face and head from.
In the example below, I will replace the face of the man on the bicycle with the face of the man in the middle.
Step 2. Select the Face You Want to Swap Into Your Image
Start making a selection using the Quick Selection tool. It doesn’t have to be perfect yet, and you can use other selection tools too.
There is another way to do this step, but it involves the Lasso tool and the Move tool.
Step 3. Improve the Selection With a Mask
Click on the Quick Mask button on the left menu to create a mask. You can also do it from the Layers panel. After that, use the Brush tool to improve the selection, now shown as a red layer mask. Painting with white adds pixels, and painting with black removes pixels from the selection.
You can switch between black and white usingthe shortcutX. This is one of the best Photoshop tips to know in general.
Step 4. Copy and Paste the Face in the Second Photo
Click the Quick Mask button again once your selection is finished. This will take you back to standard mode editing.
Copy and paste the face layer on the background layer. (Cmd + C and Cmd + V for Mac OS and Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V for Windows.)
Position the face layer to replace the original head. Now you have a new face as a new layer mask. You now have one of the world’s most unique models, as the head and body are from two different people.
Step 5. Use Auto-Blend Layers
If the skin tones from both subjects are different, you can use the Auto-Blend Layers option. This tool works by blending the background layer with the face layer. Go to Edit in the Photoshop menu to choose this option. Then, select Auto-Blend Layers. Make sure you tick off the “Seamless Tones and Colors” option.
Step 6. Make Final Adjustments to the Face Swap
In this case, the face layer already looked good, but I made a few minor adjustments. I erased some areas from the beard with a soft brush and made the head smaller for a perfect fit.
Use Cmd + T for Mac OS and Ctrl + T for Windows to resize the layer.
Sometimes it helps to add shadow to the face layer when the lighting in both pictures is different. You can select “Layer Effects” on the layers panel. Then, select the option to create a drop shadow.
And there you have it. A perfect face swap!
Conclusion—How to do a Face Swap in Photoshop
Now you can fix closed eyes and make a face swap in Photoshop for fun. Pay attention to the lighting and position of the head before starting to swap faces. You want the result to look natural.
In this example, I also used the masking technique. This technique is essential when learning how to edit photos in Photoshop. It is convenient for a dozen different things and is one of the most important techniques to learn.
Practice this technique when swapping faces in Photoshop and master it. You will use it in almost all future projects.
