You're welcome mate, happy to help! Let me know if you have any questions.
Regarding the post-processing; I feel you brother! All my photos have at least some sort of post-processing done to it, and just like with you, I consider my images to be "my art". I guess we all have our own tastes w.r.t. how we like an image to look. My remark was not meant as criticism.
W.r.t. bringing up the shadows in post, are you familiar with the philosophy of "EttR" (Expose to the Right)?
The idea is that when you overexpose an image slightly (without going as far as getting pure white), it is easier to get a better balanced and more colorful look in post-processing. I understand the philosophy, but in practice, it is very difficult not to overexpose the sky, and bracketing is often easier. Having said that, I have never reached satisfactory results with HDR and in practice often try to make one good shot and lift the shadows and reduce the highlights in post. Any tips for taking good HDR shots from your experience?