Bleached and washed out ....

[Clicker]

When I took this photograph  at the Mumbles end of Swansea Bay , despite a bright blue sky,  it seemed to lend itself to being processed  in bleached driftwood kind of colours and  a feel  of a watercolour  painting    so I have desaturated  it partly and added a textured  feel to resemble   a watercolour wash on cartridge paper ...     see what  you think ...

[Clicker]

Here is the original  unprocessed   image before I cropped and    fiddled with  it .... Sometimes  one  can't see for looking though  I think the  crop helped with the balance of the composition  because of the figures but I lost more sky that I really wanted to .... Hmmm  .....   views and opinions always welcome  gang ...

 

[Fogey]

This is going to be difficult to put into words.  

I prefer the washed out version to the colour - but I don't exactly like the washed out version.

I'll try to explain...........the reflections of the clouds in the water just doesn't  gel for me and I'm not sure how that can be overcome.   Maybe a little more contrast in the cloud to make them stand out, then reflect that in the sea?

The mole, left of frame is perfect and is the focal point leading the eye into the scene and then the image becomes a little bland, for me.  Perhaps a little more structure to the boats and figures to make them stand out...... maybe the  sand bars as well,  just to break up that whiteness, then the cloud reflections would make sense.

Just my thoughts, Polly.  The water colour theme is very sound and I agree .........I'm having difficulty with seeing and looking as well.