How to replace a face with Photoshop

Have you seen that Face/Off movie? I'm going to show you how to take a face from one picture and transplant it to a person on another picture.

Open a "face donor" picture.

Click here for the picture used in this lesson.




Also recommended:

  How to carve a text scar into skin using Photoshop

Choose the Lasso Tool.

Select the head like I did (see picture).

Press Ctrl + C to copy the selection.

Now open the picture you want to replace the face on.

I'm going to use the picture of Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo.

Click here to download the picture of Rambo used in this tutorial.

Press Ctrl + V to paste your selection.

The face is now copied as a new layer.

Press Ctrl + T then rotate and resize the face so it fits the new picture.

Hold  Shift key when resizing to keep the aspect ratio of the head in tact.

Press Enter when done.

Choose the Eraser Tool (E for a keyboard shortcut).

Right click the document set the Hardness to 0% and Size to whatever you think it's suitable for your picture.

Now start clicking carefully around the face so at the end only face is left (see picture).

Press Ctrl + T and adjust the size and position of the face.

Press E key for the Eraser Tool and set Opacity to 15% (see picture).

Now click carefully and slowly the areas around ears, skin, eyes and nose (see picture).

Don't erase too much, we will do fine tuning in the next steps.

Press Ctrl + T, right-click the selection and choose Warp.

Set the layer Opacity to 50% (see picture).

We made the face see through, so we can see both layers at the same time, which will help us with fine adjustments of the face.

Carefully and slowly move the face parts so they fit the original face.

Don't over do it though, or your new face might end up looking distorted.

Press Enter to confirm the changes.

Set the Opacity back to 100% (see picture).

Press E key to choose the Eraser Tool and click the areas that need correcting after you used Warp.

Don't forget to change eraser's opacity and size for better results (steps 7 and 10).

Now we're going to use a really cool Adobe Photoshop feature.

In the menu click Image, Adjustments and choose Match Color ...

In the new settings set your current document as Source and choose the layer underneath the face layer (background in my case) as Layer.

Fool around with the Image Options settings until you achieve the match you will be happy with.

Click OK.

I'm going to make some little adjustment with Warp tool one more time.

Press Ctrl + T, right click the selection and choose Warp.

Press Ctrl + L to open Levels and fine tune the tones of the face with black, grey and white slider.

Click OK when done.

Now press E to choose the Eraser Tool and again slowly and carefully erase the areas of the face.

The goal with erasing, like you probably figured it out by now, is to create a perfect fusion between the original and new face.

Click the icon that makes the layer visible or invisible to help you with the final result.

And we are done!




Also recommended for you:

  How to give a black eye using Photoshop