Hiya Rayna,
Firstly, I absolutely love lava lamps .... think it has something to do with me growing up as a young lass in the 70's (bit of a hippy at heart
). My mom and dad had an old 60's/70's lamp for years and I could spend hours just gazing at it watching the was bubbles bulge and create different forms.
In fact I love any type of lights and have a few, from lava lamp, fibre optic light, disco ball
, plasma ball, to name a few. They make fantastic subjects to photograph and have taken some stunning photos of same (which I will have to post soon in the general thread ... when I find the time).
I like both the images you have posted, and the traffic light effect you have created. However, I think the light in the base bubble is quite over exposed and the shadow and halo effect caused is quite distracting.
What settings did you use? I found when I took shots of my lava lamp that I resorted to absolutely no additional lighting, and set it to a very long shutter speed in total darkness (which avoided the shadows and OE), however they did need some bring back in post processing (but that was okay as I shot in RAW).
What is the cap like on the top of your lava lamp? I think that by including that would enhance the image and add a bit of interest, because at they stand now, it looks like something is missing. I think you have got the base right, but can imagine the top adding a certain 'space rocket' effect, which would compliment the traffic light effect.
Cheers
Dawn