How to darken part of the face, as in this example?

Question

Adobe Photoshop

There is a photograph.

I want to do something similar, it is necessary that only part of the face is also visible, the rest of the face smoothly "goes into the shadows" and is not particularly visible. I don't understand how to do that. The darken tool doesn't work for me.

Answer 1

Personally, I would do this:
1) I would create an adjustment layer "Levels / Levels", play with the sliders until the darkening reaches a more or less desired degree.
2) Then, through the layer mask, using a gradient fill and brushes, I would remove the effect from those areas of the frame where the darkening is unnecessary.
3) And I would additionally correct everything through "Curves / Curves"
Another thing is that if the lighting in the frame is not conducive to such shadows, then the results will be extremely unnatural anyway.