Not to start any new but was not a part of the original discussion. Just my point of view. I have been doing this since 1966 mostly b&w and some color, all in my own darkrooms. A small story to illustrate a point. I like most kinds of music, except for opera which I Don not understand, hard rock which I understand but find too loud, and rap which I do not consider music but an art form in its own right. At one point I did not like classical. Strange music. And then one night when I was younger I was listening to the radio and a classical program came on and I was too lazy to change the station. They would play a small portion and then explain what the composer wanted to convey. It was a piece about a storm approaching a mountion. At the end I found an appreciation for the music as I was no longer ignorant of it. It is the same with photography.. he did not like b&w period. Saw no reason for it, etc. Only colour. This would seem like an ignorant man, unwilling or unable to appreciate or incapable of understanding anything he doesn't like. If he would take the time to understand that true photography is an art with many tools and can be expressed in many ways, all of which should be appreciated he may get a better understanding of the world and the people around him and grow out of the shallow place he lives in.
I use sns hdr pro to process raw files (without the hdr look) many options for controlling highlihts, shadows, etc. And paintshopX9 for finishing touches,layering,...