Another term used in photography is that of negative space. Negative space is simply the space not taken-up by the main subject. So in the photo above, it is the red water, and in the shot to the right, it is the sky. Learning to control your negative space can greatly affect your photo general look. Having lots, or very little, can change the mood.

Here are two examples of their use in contrasting examples. The first, the portrait of the model, is that of very little or no negative space. And the second, of the boat crossing the River Ganges. Each is very different. Too much and too little can be great when applied properly.

Another interesting technique is to play with the contrasts between the subject and its background. If the lighting behind the subject is much stronger, you will get a silhouette figure. A silhouette is the effect in which the subject is rendered as a black shape without detail against a bright background.

It is created when the in-camera light meter gets fooled by the extreme brightness of the background, and therefore loses the foreground element, rendering it completely underexposed, or black.

So basically, if your subject is standing say, in front of a bright window and you photograph him/her, they will be underexposed. In order to get back the details of the subject, you would have to either dial-in exposure compensation, or use a flash to fill-in the dark "void".