seriously, don't do too much of this zooming in/out technique. It can be good and effective in the right composition but really cheap and tacky in a normal composition. And don't repeat it unless u want to practise, once is enough regardless of right/normal composition.
For me, both look tacky. I'm not a big fan of zooming in/outs or PSed radial blurs anyway.
Just one other the others have not covered in extent. Exposure. Every scene is some-well exposed (light sources not included). There are no perfect blacks, this (DSC_0428copy) comes the closest but....
Colour is only vibrant when there is contrast, when there is comparision. At night, black is a natural contrast colour to brightly coloured lights (CNY). Try using selective metering the next time you shoot, expose for subject(s) and let the rest (unimportant elements) fall into shadow. This applies for night and day shots. Shadows gives depth, 3D feel.
