There are many examples of quick head swap tutorials out there that rarely look realistic.

Lighting

First and foremost, the lighting of each image should match.

Perspective and Positioning

The perspective of each image must also match.

Cover example of a head swap

The perspective from which both photos were taken (low, eye level, high, etc.)

must be the same, as well as the positioning of the head.

How Much of the Head Do You Want to Swap?

Headshot of a female model

The final consideration is how much of the head should be swapped to pull off the effect.

For our example, we will copy the entire head of one image and swap it out.

But we’ll strategically choose which pixels to actually keep to make a believable composite.

Close up headshot of a female model

We took into consideration all three points before proceeding to the editing stage.

Copy the Head Onto the Body

The first major step is to perform the actual head swap in Photoshop.

We’ve successfully swapped out our subject’s head and masked out all the unwanted pixels.

Step 1 Use Lasso Tool to make selection-1

So far, so good.

Let’s begin to blend the brightness and saturation values.

We now have to match the brightness and saturation values usingCurvesandHue/Saturationadjustments with the appropriate clipping masks.

Step 2 Paste the face-1

Global Adjustments for the Finishing Touches

Global adjustments are effects that apply to the entire image.

For our example, we first added aColor Lookuptable to the top of the layer stack and choseCandlelight Cube.

We reduced theOpacityto50%.

Step 3 Convert to Smart Object-1

The goal is to make the head swap look natural.

With Photoshop, there are usually several ways to accomplish a realistic head swap.

You could also use third-party apps likeLuminar Neo to help create awesome photo composites.

Step 4 Control plus T-1

Step 5 Reduce Opacity to 50 percent-1

Step 6 Use handles to match facial features-1

Step 8 Add a layer mask to layer 1

Step 8 Soft Round Brush

Step 10 Mask out the unwanted pixels

Step 1 Create a Solid Color adjustment

Step 2 Change the Saturation to 0

Step 3 Blending Mode to Color

Step 4 Create Curves

Step 5 Click on Hand tool

Step 6 lower the curve

Step 7 Click off the Color Fill layer

Step 8 Clip a Curves layer to Layer 1

Step 9 Lower the curve

Step 11 Lower the Saturation

Color Lookup table

Color Balance adjustment