I once did the same. Trying to photograph the perfect image without editing. But hey. our camera's do not see what the naked eye can see... It is actually impossible to photograph a perfect image :) Dynamic range and stuff. Why do filters even exist then? My images ask like a 5 minute work in max. I just adjust the colours, contrast, a bit of sharpening, whitebalance if it looks wrong. I almost always make a better looking composition or crop (how i like it, or what is my kind of taste). I never work in layers... Just very basic correction are more than fine for me.