Photoshop Quick Face Swap Tutorial

A face swap is less about moving pixels than about alignment and blending. Lasso the face, copy it to a new layer, drag it into the target image, line the features up with Free Transform, then let Auto-Blend Layers hide the seam. Get both photos to the same colour temperature first.

1. Before you start

1. Open the source photo In Photoshop click File → Open (or Ctrl+O), pick the photo that will supply the new face and open it.
2. Open the target photo Same as above: open the photo the new face is going onto. Both images open in separate tabs in Photoshop.

2. Select the original face

3. Switch to the source tab Click the image tab in the top left so that document becomes the active one.
4. Use the Lasso tool (L) and choose Polygonal Lasso Tool in the toolbar. Trace right around the outline of the face you want to move, closing the path completely.
   
5. Copy the selection to a new layer Press Ctrl+J (Layer → New → Layer via Copy) to copy the selected face onto its own layer, named “Layer 1” by default.
6. Hide the original layer (optional) In the Layers panel, click the eye icon to the left of the original layer to hide it for now — positioning the new face is easier without it.

3. Move the face onto the target image

7. Switch to the target tab Click the target image in the tab bar at the top of Photoshop.
8. Move tool (V) — drag the face layer you just copied onto the target image. If “Layer 1” still sits in the source document, right-click it → Duplicate Layer…, choose the target document as the Destination and click OK.
9. Free Transform (resize/rotate) With the face layer selected, press Ctrl+T (Edit → Free Transform), drag a corner handle to scale it and shift the centre point until the features line up with the target face.
   For more precision, drop the layer opacity to 50 % first (slide Opacity in the Layers panel), align, then set it back to 100 %.

4. Load the selection and cut out the old face

10. Load the selection Hold Ctrl and click the thumbnail of “Layer 1”; this turns the layer’s non-transparent pixels back into a selection (marching ants).
11. Hide “Layer 1” so that pressing Delete does not wipe out the new face. Leave only the target background visible.
12. Contract the selection Choose Select → Modify → Contract… (or Alt+Ctrl+I), enter 5 px and click OK. The slightly smaller selection leaves a thin buffer at the edge, which blends more naturally later.
13. Unlock the background layer Double-click the “Background” layer in the Layers panel (or right-click → Rasterize → Convert to Smart Object) and click OK to turn it into a normal layer.
14. Delete the old face Press Delete to remove the pixels inside the selection, leaving a transparent hole.
15. Deselect (Ctrl+D); “Layer 1” is now visible on the canvas again.

5. Auto-Blend (for a more natural result)

16. Select both layers In the Layers panel click “Layer 1” once, then hold Ctrl (Windows) / Cmd (Mac) and click the “Background” layer so both are selected (highlighted).
17. Auto-Blend Layers Choose Edit → Auto-Blend Layers… and in the dialog:
    • check Panorama
    • check Seamless Tones and Colors
    • click OK
    Photoshop then builds a gradient mask between the two layers, so the new face fades naturally into the original edge.
18. Done! Now give the whole image a final polish (colour correction, skin retouching and so on) and save it.
    File → Export As → PNG/JPEG (or Ctrl+Shift+S) saves your face swap.

References

• Adobe Photoshop official documentation
• HTML5 and the principles of modern front-end image processing
• Online PS