Lauren Huston This is going to be a long response, sorry. :)
Generally I shoot in raw in all my devices - exception is usually my phone as the quick snapshot style photos are jpeg by default.
Workflow will depend on the image and what type of image it is - I use Lightroom to import into the catalogue.
For a standard 1 frame image, I'll usually import into Photoshop from Lightroom and use Camera Raw Filter to do the basic edits, and then I have access to Nik Collection, Topaz Labs Suite or Luminar/Aurora if needed.
If it's a panorama I'll usually try stitching with Lightroom and if satisfied with the results I'll continue as mentioned above. If I'm not satisfied I'll try stitching in either Microsoft ICE or PTGui, but to be honest I'm pretty lazy and try to avoid those. :)
HDR is where the tricky parts come in.
This particular image was processed through Aurora after importing to Lightroom, but then some minor editing afterwards, others I might just use the HDR merge through Lightroom but it doesn't do very well with artificial lights like car headlights, streetlights etc.
When I try to do the HDR panoramas is where I start pulling my hair out. An image such as "Lagoon" is comprised of 82 images - 9 different exposures of each frame is 72 individual images to make 8 frames. So that's 80 images to work with - stitch them together which adds another to the mix, and then the final edited image.
Usually I'll get everything merged and stitched together before I start the final edit, but it can be painful to make sure everything matches.
Sorry for the information overload, but happy to answer any more questions if you have any. :)
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