A stormy day with intermittent breaks in the clouds at Nags Head. A trip to Jennette’s Pier in cold 30+ mph winds. At the pier’s end a chance to try to capture the waves riding in toward the shore. A splash of sunlight momentarily turning the grey-blue waters a brighter hue of green. Sunrays in the distance illuminating other, unseen patches of ocean. The distant Outer Banks Fishing Pier corresponding to our viewpoint. Winds sweeping spray off the rolling waves.

Nikon Z 7ii with 24-70 mm f/2.8 lens. 70 mm, f/2.8, ISO 64, 1/3200.
I cropped out the clouds closest to the sun, which were blown out; I exposed for the surf, 1/3200 easily freezing the spray blowing off the waves; ISO 64 kept the noise down; f/2.8 paid for the quick exposure.
Cleaned up in DxO and edited in Luminar AI. I burned the light patch on the surf to enhance it and saturated the area a little. The skies were given a taste of structure, smart contrast, and sky enhancement under the accent AI control. Generally the contrast and detail were boosted to better express the shloggy foam of the surf. Lastly, I warmed up the sky enough to remove a blue cast. The same image as an unedited jpeg straight from RAW through whatever Apple Photos does on its own (figure 1a):
