[jools-elliott]

The unfortunate thing is that this is a debate that will go on forever and a day!

Personally, I would prefer to:

1) measure the ilght with my spot meter. Thus I place the tonality of the image where I want it.
2) put in the appropriate grad.

Time taken = 30 seconds or less.

Yes, you can blend images but you run the risk of having two images slightly off if the tripod moves. OK, you can auto-align in PS but again why bother if you get it right in camera.

Image manipulation is taking far too much away from the art and science of photography. All too often you see people saying "oh, you must have used PS to get that sky/ put that sky in".

Nope. I get up early and learn to use my camera to get the image.

*Edit.

Forgot to say. I would look VERY carefully at what effect those sliders are having on your images. I had to completely throw out my way of working in LR a few months ago because I hadn't looked closely at what each slider does.

Clarity. Yes. Lovely. Whack it up too much and you actually soften your image.
Watch those black and fill light sliders too.