Better color, details and clarity with the polarizer.

You can download Adobe Bridge on a "trial basis" and then that will allow you to download and use Adobe Camera RAW for free which is what both LR and PS use to post process RAW files. Bridge is a very good file organizer that can do much of what LR does in that area, and Camera RAW will give you 70-80 percent or better of what you can do in LR for post processing. There are plenty of how-to videos on the Internet to help explain the functions and what they do and you don't have to learn all of them at once to be able to use it. Also, Google Topaz Studio by Topaz Labs or use this link https://topazlabs.com/downloads/ . Topaz Studio is a free for life powerful post processing software that comes with 10 free adjustments. Lots of free tutorials and help at their web site. Users from all over create and submit effects that you can use for free. It takes a pretty powerful graphics processor to run it because it is very cutting edge technology, but a very powerful software and you can't beat the price.

With heavy lenses you might want to consider a gimbal head for whichever tripod you choose. You can get a Movo gimbal head for $100-200 depending on whether you want aluminum or carbon fiber.

Don't know what your camera is or your budget, but you might want to consider Sigma 150-600 with 1.4 teleconverter. Great lens and reasonable price for it.

As far as free software you could look at Topaz Studio. Easy to use typically means that it does very little or doesn't allow you to do anything much to your pictures. Most people/companies who offer free software do so as an enticement to purchase their better/more capable versions. It cost money to develop, maintain and support any software, so you get what you pay for. Also, be aware that the Nikon D850 has a new RAW file structure and that you may run into issues getting your pictures to your PC or Mac and being able to view them without updates/upgrades to your computer. If you don't plan on working with RAW files, then purchasing a D850 is pretty much a waste of time. As for a website to sell from, you might want to look at Smugmug as a starting point. There is a monthly subscription fee, but pictures can be bought directly from their site.

Both...in case someone tries to run him off while I'm taking pictures!

Use them for the exact same reasons and situations that you do in film. The object is to take the best photo possible first, not a lesser quality one and then try to "fix it" in post processing. Post processing can fix a lot of errors in a shot, but it isn't going to work miracles without drastically modifying elements of the shot.

I think how many shots you take has a lot more to do with what you are shooting than how "professional" you are about it. I shoot landscape and nature exclusively. Landscapes obviously give you more opportunity to fine tune your shots, even those change with the lighting etc. While looking at composition, lighting, etc. are extremely important, you don't necessarily always have the luxury of taking vast amounts of time to get the shot. What you're trying to photograph may not give you that opportunity. It may move or leave the scene completely. So, you take lots of shots with differing variables of ISO, shutter speed, exposure etc. as fast as you can while you have the brief opportunity. I just took 15 shots yesterday of a butterfly slowly turning in a circle on a flower while there was a slight breeze. Between the breeze and the movement of the butterfly I would never have taken the chance of capturing it with only one or two shots. Call me a "snap shot photographer" if you choose. But now I have the most enjoyable task of choosing which one of the shots elicits that "Oh, wow!" reaction.

If someone gets that "perfect" picture in one shot and another takes 1000 shots to get that "perfect" one, is one picture better than the other because of how many shots it took? An artist is someone who works with a medium to express themselves, whether it be clay, wood, water colors or a camera. Whether you or I appreciate their artistic endeavor isn't what makes it art. It's what it means to the person who created it. While we might not care for what they created, we should applaud their effort.

Windows has Backup and Restore that comes for free with the OS.

I've been in the IT business for 30 years and this is what I use. The backup program that is part of the Windows operating system has the ability to perform an "image backup". This means it backs up your entire system in a way that allows you to fully restore to your current hard drive or to a new hard drive so that you can get back to the exact state that your system was when the last back up was performed. I start his at night at least twice a month and let it run overnight. And I use two external hard drives that I alternate. In addition, I run Mozy backup everyday for my cloud backup of all my data files. It is $5.99 a month for 50 GB and each additional 50 GB is $5.00. I also have two external drives that I use just for pics. They are duplicates of each other. This way if something bad happens, I can re-image a drive from my last backup and then restore my last Mozy backup and I'm back in business in just a couple of hours or so. No having to reinstall programs and settings or any of that. You can also check out Smugmug for a really cheap backup of pics. It is unlimited space. However, you can only backup jpegs unless they have changed that.

Full auto is a balancing act on the part of the camera's electronics. As a result it is trying to keep all functions happy which means it is compromising various aspects like ISO, exposure time, etc. to get you a good, but possibly average shot. While I shoot in full auto sometimes, I often am shooting in what I would call "semi-auto" based upon what I want to control in that particular shot. Just as we could control grain, detail and color depth in film days by using a lower speed film, the same thing can be done by controlling ISO, aperture, exposure time etc. with digital cameras. The sensor is able to record more data when controlling these. I mostly shoot nature, especially wildflowers, and I will often start out with a full auto shot, then start controlling differing aspects such as ISO, aperture, etc. so that I can pick what I like best when I go to post processing. Not only does it give me options at that point, I am also learning more about my equipment and how it performs in differing natural light situations.

A gimble head to use on your tripod and a remote shutter release would possibly help since it would take the stress of the weight off of your hands and allow easy movement of the camera and lens. The remote shutter release has larger buttons that are easier to manage than that on the camera. While the "premium" gimbals can run $300 to 400 you can get an excellent one for a lot less money. I recently got a Movophoto from Amazon for $100 and I really like my Pixel remote. You can chek their website to see if they have one for your camera.

Beautiful shots! We have them behind our cabin as well. The low fawn count is more likely a result of coyote population. While bears can impact it the coyotes are the worst.

Check out Easy Canvas Prints for comparison as they also have metal prints.