Take the first of the two photos by aiming the camera directly at your subject. Meter the image from the darkest part of the subject, or put it/them in front of something bright (like the sun). If you are unsure of the metering system then underexpose the image by 1–2 stops. This lessens the probability of you overexposing everything.
On a digital camera, you can adjust the exposure compensation to -1. This will put the subject in a slightly underexposed position. The background will be heading towards overexposed (if not completely overexposed).
The Second Image
For the second image, you are looking to find something with a lot of colour and texture. Make sure whatever you are photographing is well lit. This goes a long way to making the final image something that will capture your eye. Think things like autumn foliage, flowers, trees, sunsets, cloud patterns, textured wallpaper etc. If the texture isn’t uniform then you need to think about where in the frame your subject was and ensure that it is distributed across this area.
When I do this I always try to fill the frame with the textures as evenly as possible. Providing you have taken the first image correctly (with the background heading towards overexposed) you should be fine.