Merci...

Trickier than you would expect with this photo...

I would definitely check the guidelines on what is acceptable or not at this site before I tried a technique such as this. You can apply filters etc. that work on the entire image, but "painting" certain parts is not acceptable

I have not done any "painting" this is the raw photo.

It's a safer way to dodge and burn. Dodging and burning is a common photographers practice to enhance shadows and highlights, it's not dramatically altering the spirit of the image.