Step 3. Now choose the “Eraser” tool from your tool bar, (on the left of the screen in PS7), and make sure at the top on the work bar in the “Mode” box it indicates “Brush” and not “Pencil” or “Block”. To the left of that Mode control you will see a representative of how your brush will look. Choose the soft fuzzy brush, and size it so that the brush covers an area approximately the size of the person’s face in the image.

Place the brush over your subject’s face and click once. You will immediately see the lighter background layer show through the darker layer you have duplicated over it. Now it’s up to you and your artistic eye to decide how much or how little of the darkenss you erase from your image. In the sample shown here, I erased all around her face and torso leaving just a graduated darker area on the top, bottom, sides and corners.

When you have the effect you want, click on “Layer” on the top tool bar and come down to “Merge Visible” and click on it to merge the two layers back into one.

Your image should now look similar to the one shown here.