Both shots are good, but the brightness on the second one is a bit too bright, but this is such a pretty image of such a simple object! I like the angle on this image better....both are pretty.
yes. The deep curve adds much more to the flow. Just gotta ask, do you have your camera set to incandescent wb? I love the color.
The blue in this case is actually done in photoshop. The wb was set to a preset that I use with my lightbox setup so I would get a more accurate silvery tint of the metal. The original version of this shot was done with the wb on automatic, so when I tried to adjust the coloring on that it had to go from a yellowish tint to blue, which I think made the noise even worse.
As long as we're all voting, I very much agree 2 is better with the twisted bend being much better than the "rainbow" bend of 1 and a better angle on the in-focus part.
door number 2 for me as well! Way more intresting with the composition than the first. I think how the lamp arm comes in and out of the frame makes this photo, well done!
The second one also get my vote. I love the softness and the blue tones. Most of all I love the detail that you have focused on, as it has such wonderful clarity and deatail, so very rich in that blue colortone.