BetterPhoto Q&A
Category: New Answers

Lynn Snow		How to head swap on a portrait photo Okay, I know this sounds funny, but I have seen many photos where one head has been swapped out with another one. The reason I ask this is that I took a large family photo recently and I would really like to swap out the facial expressions for one subject for the facial expressions on another photo (basically moving one face shot to another picture). Does anyone know how to do this? Thanks so much!!!!! To love this question, log in above August 31, 2006

Pete H		Hello Lynn, First, please be more specific. Do you wish to swap a mouth, the eyes, or the entire face including hair? 2nd: What is your experience level with image editing? To simply take the head of one person and place it on another persons body is very easy to do. To do it so it doesn't look what some call "photoshopped" is NOT easy. This is why I ask what your experience is with image editors such as Adobe PS etc... Pete To love this comment, log in above August 31, 2006

Lynn Snow		Pete, Thanks for responding back. I would like to switch out the entire head. It is almost a duplicate photo so the lighting, etc. is identical. I use CS2 and I guess I would say I have moderate experience with image editing, but have not attempted something like this before. To love this comment, log in above August 31, 2006

Bret Tate		Lynn: Try this - 1) Open the photo to edit and the photo from which you will take the head 2) Use the lasso tool and select the head you want to use. Select more than what you want to use. Your selection does not need to be precise. 3) Use the move tool and drag your selection to the photo you want to edit. This will create a second layer of the selection. 4) Decrease the opacity of the "head" layer so you can see the layer below through the head. 5) Postion the new head so it looks normal. You may need to rotate/change scale with the transform tool. If you hold the shift key while dragging fron a corner to resize with the transform tool the proportions will not distort. 6) Once in position change the opacity back to 100% 7) turn the head layer into a mask by clicking on the square with a circle in the middle at the bottom of the layer palette. 8) Make sure black is the foregraound color, select the brush tool and start to paint the areas that you want to disappear to blend the head in. If you paint over something you want to keep change the foreground color to white and paint again. This will bring back what you eliminated. That is the quick down & dirty method. I hope it helps. To love this comment, log in above August 31, 2006

Pete H		Bret's method will work fine. One caution if you want a natural look. Some head's don't work well with someone else's body..big head, small body etc.... Tip: When you reduce the opacity setting when placing the head on the new body, line up the eye's of the new head to the old one. Tip 2: Even though you have similar lighting,basic anatomy may cause the pic to look faked. If one person has their head tilted slightly down and the other is not, the neck line may look off, so if you have them posed the same way, this won't be a problem. Be careful on skin tones. The face tone may not match the persons neck tone.. Ya' get the idea I've done a few of these? I have! LOL..and it's fun. Pete To love this comment, log in above August 31, 2006

Jerry Frazier		You are asking how one does this. My method is to take it to a lab where they have people who do it routinely and it only costs like maybe $8. To love this comment, log in above September 01, 2006

Lynn Snow		Thank you, Pete and Bret, so much for your help. I tried your tips and it worked perfectly!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! Thanks also, Jerry, for the advice. I wanted to be able to learn how to do this on my own, because I had seen other photographers here on BP use this trick from time to time. To love this comment, log in above September 01, 2006

This old forum is now archived. Use improved Forum here Report this Thread