How to Apply Face Swap in Photoshop?

In this age of social media, who is unaware of face swap technology? You can apply face swap in Photoshop and also with other online tools. People often leverage this technology to entertain online users, thereby boosting their subscribers and followers. No doubt, it’s a fun act but at the same time, it can even be deployed to bring perfection in flawed photography.

You may be wondering how? Well, just think about a group shot with 5 people in it. 4 people may be snapped with perfect positions and poses but with an exception in one. One person may be staring obliquely or with eyes closed. An overall mind-blowing shot can be botched just for one person. But with face swap technology, you can easily swap that unwanted face with another smiling or glowing face of the same person.

Before we move forward to show you the step-by-step process of face-swapping, we must tell you that face swapping technology is being misused nowadays a lot. Many people are perpetrating severe crimes misusing this technology. They are misusing face swapping and face morphing technology and framing innocent people. Our sole purpose to make this tutorial is mainly to introduce you to this amazing art so that you can have ethical fun and get rid of unwanted photography defects.

Now, how to do face swap? Without further ado, let’s take a look at the techniques through which you can swap a face in Photoshop–

Open Images in Photoshop:

At the very beginning, open 2 images in Photoshop that you wish to work with. Don’t forget to make sure that both faces in the images are looking in a similar direction with a nearly similar head tilt. These factors are crucial for a realistic look of the swapped face.

Select the Lasso Tool:

Then, select the Lasso tool from the toolbar located on the left to draw around the face that you want to apply to another face. Once the face selection is complete, duplicate the layer by hitting Ctrl + J in Windows or Command + J in Mac.

Import the Selected Face into the 2^nd Image:

After that, copy the selection and paste it into the 2^nd image that you opened along with the 1^st one to swap. But naturally, the position and the size of both faces will be different. Now, press Ctrl + T in Windows or Command + T in Mac to resize the copied face. Also, use the Move tool pressing V to position the face correctly.

Move and Rotate the Face to Adjust Facial Parts:

Now, tone down the opacity from the Layers panel to see through the face under the top face. Set the right eye as a reference point and based on that adjust other facial parts by moving and rotating the face. Use Shift + Alt while moving and rotating the face to maintain right alignment and prevent any distortion. Bring the opacity back to 100% again to view the top face.

Add a Layer Mask:

Then, add a layer mask into Layer 1, pick the foreground color to black, and select the Brush tool.

Select the Brush Tool:

Use the Brush tool to brush around the face including eyes, nose, and mouth. This will enable you to match the skin tone and color of the bottom face with the top face.

Make Necessary Adjustments:

The face swapping is almost done. But to bring accuracy into the swapped face, click Image into the menu bar and select Adjustments to get a list of choices. Click Brightness/Contrast to adjust the brightness and contrast. Once the face looks realistic, hit Ok.

Final Output:

Finally, face swapping or face replacement is done. It’s pretty easy and simple, right? This is how you can swap any face with ease and get an utterly new face.

People are doing face swap or face morphing for a variety of reasons nowadays. It’s very common for us to come across face swap memes, selfie face swap, celebrity deepfakes, spurious videos of public figures, etc. on social media. We would recommend you to adopt this technology only in the case of necessity and entertaining people. Don’t misuse the technology lest it should harm other people.

We hope you have enjoyed the tutorial immensely. To have a good hand on the face swapping, keep practicing it on Photoshop and you will just nail it. Be rest assured!!!