One of the easiest ways is to burn and dodge. There are several ways you can do that. Research the subject dodge and burn and see which method you want to use.
My favorite is using a curves adjustment layer that I can then fill the mask with black, then paint in the areas I want lightened or darken using a white brush
I like JJ's suggestion of using Dodge & Burn as it allows you to target tonal ranges and get good control of local contrast. Curves will also do this via carefull placement of the curve control points, but then you need to play with the curves layer mask to localise the effect. I like top paint it directly on the image.
A favourite way to lighten an area is to select the are and copy it to a new layer. Then set the new layer to Screen. This can often be too much, so you have to reduce the new layers opacity. To control the extent (boundary) I Ctrl click the new layer to load as a selection, and add a layer mask. You can then use Mask Properties panel change things like feather, density etc.
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