Create a Dramatic Spotlight Effect?

Get the Radial Filter (J) from the toolbar (it’s the fourth icon from the right—it looks like a tall oval), then click-and-drag an oval out over the area of your image where you want to have a spotlight appear. Once you’ve drawn it, you can resize it using the little handles on the sides, top, and bottom. To move it, just click inside it and drag. To rotate it, move your cursor just outside the oval and your cursor becomes a double-headed arrow—click-and-drag to rotate. With this tool, you have the option to control what happens inside the oval or outside of it. For this effect, we want to affect the outside, so in the Effect section, at the bottom of the Radial Filter panel, click on the Outside radio button (as seen in the inset above). Now, drag the Exposure slider to the left to darken everything outside the oval (as shown above) and this creates the soft spotlight effect.