photoshop is not cheating
it's standard post processing techniques used by all photographers, as like film developers in a lab dark-room. you can pretty much do what is done to film in a lab (which is quite extensive).

all i did is standard industry stuff, the only 'cheating' part is the cloning...

once a picture comes out of the camera as a raw, it is just that. there is no sharpening, colouring, contrast etc in a raw... u set/change all that post-shot. u then set ur white balance and exposure. that is ur then end product.

the photoshop'ing u guys know is more of cutting and pasting, cloning and dodging etc (ie dumping cars and changing rims)... that's when u change the actual 'image' and not the colour/light settings.