Recently updated my Mac and all went well until I started to use it and discovered the program iPhoto was gone as well as my 13000, photos. I feel really sad because of losing all valued photos, my search for a photo program to replace it is needed, iPhoto was a basic program, it had basic editing features, folders for saving photos by category,
info on each photo when editing, the photos it produced were excellent. Looking for a replacement that is stand alone and NOT Apple controlled. Also if anyone knows of a method or a company that can retrieve my lost 13000 photos please let me know. Thanks in advance.

With a monopod and a reasonably steady hand you should have been able to use 1/40s or even lower. But as you say, a tripod would have meant you could use ISO 100 (assuming that there wasn't enough wind to move the branches and lights).

By "true HDR" do you mean exposure bracketing as opposed to in-camera HDR (which gives jpg only)? When using bracketing hand-held you need to watch the shutter speed for the brightest exposure/s. For a +2 exposure the shutter duration will be four times what it is for the 0 exposure. For hand-held shots or for shots with movement within the frame it could result in camera shake or motion blur. A tripod would take care of the camera shake (but not the motion blur).

It's possible that the banding and the purple tint are both jpg artefacts. Are you aware that even if your camera is set to shoot raw it will give only jpg if you're using in-camera HDR?