Depending on what you are looking for, there are several ways that I know of. One is to quilt closer on the recessed parts and quilt a wider pattern on the white part, which will give it some elevation. Another way is to add extra batting behind the area you want raised before you quilt, being careful to trim the batting close to the edges that you want recessed. The last I know is to trapunto the area. That is adding stuffing, yarns, and other materials from the back to raise certain areas of quilting. This is done for a more detailed appearance, and is covered in the following as well as many other places:
http://www.critterpat.com/trapunto-tips.html
http://www.needlepointers.com/displaypage.aspx?ArticleID=29160&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.quilt.com%2fHistory%2fTrapunt oHistory.html
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/457171871ElksDO
http://sewing.about.com/library/sewnews/library/aamach17.htm
Good luck with your project.