The Sun, as our nearest star, allows us to probe the surface of a main sequence G star in great detail and to determine the features and processes acting there with the help of high-resolution observations and MHD simulations. These features (possibly in somewhat different guises) and processes are thought to be present/acting also on other cool stars, whose spectra they influence and whose variability and activity they are responsible for. In this presentation a brief introduction will be given to the main physical processes acting in the solar photosphere and the structures and dynamics that they produce. An attempt will also be made to work out what influence these processes and structures have on the Sun seen as an unresolved star.