Manitoba Smoke Over Lake Michigan

I created this image during the first wave of Manitoba wildfire smoke to reach Lake Michigan. I was positioned on the beach, 0.53 miles from the outer light on the Grand Haven pier. I used no filters or other tools. The light is accurate, impacted only by shutter speed, f-stop and ISO.

However, when I pulled this up full screen, I was shocked to find that I could identify sunspots - without any filter. I believe what I'm seeing just above the cloud line are two fuzzy specks that make up sunspot AR4100.

The crystal clear details of the tone-on-tone lighthouse and the people walking the pier help to draw viewers in for a closer look.

Shot on a Nikon D5 with a 500mm Nikkor lens. No filters were used.

Basic EXIF data: 1/250 at f/7.1 and ISO 100

I have not touched this image in post, other than to straighten the horizon. This includes leaving the small water spots on my lens.