Negative fill

Adding darkness rather than light, by taking reflection away. Shape carved with shadow: what you remove is as deliberate as what you add.

Negative fill is lighting by subtraction: black cloth or board placed to absorb the bounce that would have softened a face, deepening one side into shadow. Nothing is switched on; darkness is added, and the features gain the shape flat ambience had stolen.

It marks a stage in every image-maker's education: light is not only what you emit but what you decline to return. Faces in bright, even locations owe their drama to fabric absorbing light off-frame. The same subtraction runs through our design language: ink grounds and withheld space are negative fill for the page.