Welcome to the community @MountainDave 
You have no need to apologise for anything. Using Linux does not mean one should feel obliged to apologise for using closed-source software, if they choose to.
I’m a photographer too, having spent many years enjoying Photoshop Camera Raw, moving to Linux was a bit of a hurdle.
I’ve found myself at home using rawtherapee though, but I understand how the UI of that (or Darktable as you mentioned), might have presented a barrier. I will admit, the interface was a bit overwhelming at first, as it’s very powerful software, more so than Photoshop’s Camera Raw I think, with the exception of Photoshop Raw’s ability to edit raw stitched panoramas.
After putting myself through the paces over many photos, I eventually got the hang of it and I’m now able to use rawtherapee comfortably.
If you have screen calibration hardware, you might look to displaycal for calibration.
Perhaps you’d like to share some of your snaps in our photography thread 