Thanks all.
Jeremy, I may well have posted an earlier version of this. Sometimes I forget to drop a posted pic into the catalog I check to remind me whether or not I've made a particular post. On the other hand, in 2008 HDR software wasn't as good as what's available now, so I went back with Photomatix (which, my experiments tell me is the best of the lot), and re-did the nine frame HDR. There's been an improvement over the original.
Thanks, Bob_B, for pointing out that a lab like this is, as Diego said, chaotic. You called it "messy," but I think "chaotic" is the more accurate tag. But, let's face it: the lab just IS messy, and to try to hide that fact would make things even more messy. I wouldn't need to push the sunspot to make it brighter. As it was, I had to tone it down to keep some texture in it. As far as providing a target for your eyes to lock onto, if your eyes don't automatically lock on to the sunspot then you probably need to see an ophthalmologist.
And, Diego, a smaller depth of field would trash the picture. In the end, it's a messy lab. To a large extent the messiness of the lab IS the picture.
BobDavid's right. The banyan tree outside the lab is something else. It can shelter you. Banyans are interesting. I have a couple shots of banyan trees swallowing houses.