>>2224862OK. Misinterpretation. You _wanted_ the image darkened, but the face not so much.
The base image is layer A
I selected just the skin of her face and neck, feathered the edge 1 pixel, and copied it to a new layer, layer B.
Then I "put it aside"; i.e. made layer B invisible.
Back to base layer A. Selected a rectangle and darkened it 20 percent.
Turned the B layer back on. Since it's "above" base A, her face reappeared with its original look and original lightness. Hat and hair are still dark.
I rectangle-selected the left side of her face on layer B and cut it to layer C. C is now the "uppermost" layer. Nothing obvious happens.
But, as I reduce the opacity of C, the left side of her face gradually darkens. I can see this occurring in real time as I move the opacity slider.
I stopped at 50% opacity, enough for you to see the result.
This what you had in mind?
