Great work!
I was really impressed with your “beauty” image. The styling, the shapes, the colors and the composition are all dramatic improvements from your “beast” image. The main difference is that there is a lot more texture in the “beauty” image. The beast image uses more dead space which makes it oversimplified and flat. All of the action is happening in 1 layer. Your second image however, has more depth to it even though the scene is much smaller.
Because of your positioning with the camera, the space between your foreground and background seems exaggerated. There is the representation of more depth (through both your positioning and the shallow depth of field), which helps create a more appealing image.
Your “beauty” photograph uses the simplified color palette of gradients of blues and browns to maintain a harmonious look. Your “beast” image also uses a simplified color palette but the colors are washed out and lack any sort of gradient. The wall is simply 1 color with no variations due to lighting. That is not the case however in your “beauty” photograph where the lighting has had a dramatic impact on the interpretation of the colors.
The slightly side angled lighting has also helped draw out the textures in the object which has given the photograph the feeling that that your audience feels it can “touch”. Texture is such an important part of photography.
You’ve done an excellent job with this assignment!