I'm beginning to learn about digital editing and I'm trying to decide what software to invest in.  I want to alter portraits (like removing blemishes and fixing a hair style) and I also want to play with artistic renderings.  So tell me your favorite programs!

Thanks bunches!!

-Mermaid Barb

I like Adobe Photoshop. I have always said : "if you can think it, you can do it in Photoshop". There are so many tools that, even after well over 15 years, I still haven't used all of them.
-Don

Why invest money when a bit of time and effort may save you some cash.   Try GIMP.   https://www.gimp.org/downloads/
It has many of the features Photoshop offers and its free.   Here is another:   https://www.befunky.com/    Easy and fast it offers things like layers and lots of fun filters.   Another... https://www.picmonkey.com/     A Google search shows a lot more that are free.  http://download.cnet.com/Picasa/3000-21 … 60334.html is worth a look.   Another:   https://pixlr.com/editor/

There are also great tools like Darktable as opposed to Lightroom which are free as well.   While a subscription to Photoshop is only $10.00 a month.   That's still $120.00 per year.   Those I provided among others offer things like the clone tool and blemish removal along with other tools like sharpening and rotating.   I would do a free download of PS first then try the free ones and compare.     I don't usually do much editing but I do like Befunky and Picmonkey.

I wish there was something better than Photoshop but for the moment it is the least worst. It has functionality which other programs don't have and you need that if you are serious about image processing.

Capture One and Photoshop.

Adobe photoshop

Lightoom is really good and I used it for quite some time before I become proficient in photoshop itself. For removing blemishes photoshop has a great array of tools. I tend to work on tiff images in photoshop rather than a Nikon NEF(Nikon's raw image). I use View NX to make any minor adjustments as it the software that comes with a Nikon DSLR.

Capture One for most of the editing. 

If needed, Imagenomic Portraiture (Ligthroom Plugin) for some light skin smoothing.

If needed, GIMP for some healing and color correction that I couldn't/didn't do in Capture One.  Also, some skin smoothing that I couldn't do in Portraiture.

Capture One for processing and Photoshop for everything else is industry standard. GMG Colorproof/ColorServer for proofing is outstanding.

Adobe Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC   (Creative Cloud)  There is a 30 day free trial
http://www.adobe.com/downloads.html       I was searching for software like you and found that this is what most colleges teach, didnt know until I signed up for classes.

Capture One and Photoshop.

Capture One Pro for raw conversion and Photoshop for retouching.