As a newb, do you recommend I just dive in and buy the ~$90 Photoshop Adobe or are there similar programs that work better for beginners for a cheaper price? I would like to just use it for basic blemish retouching, making the background lighter/darker, etc.

Thanks!

I agree with George above. 

(Free) Gimp is the very powerful open-source software that is totally free.  It is very much like Photoshop (although the interface is different sometimes) and has good future improvement built in.  It has everything you would need for free.

($50)  I am a working professional in Photography and Photoshop but I am totally impressed with a new software arrival called Affinity Photo.  It is also very much like Photoshop but is only a one time $49 purchase.  For someone starting out it has a lot of features for a very competitive price.

($120)  I used to dislike Adobe for going to the subscription mode, l but since they came out with the $10 a month Photoshop and Lightroom Bundle for Photographers I have changed my mind.  So,  for $10 per month or $120 a year, you can now always have the latest updated Photoshop and Lightroom on your desk. You can hardly go wrong with that. Does everything you want and allows you all the ability to advance.

I dont know if price primarily, or power, or future growth accommodation, or ease of use, is your main driver.  All of the software mentioned here will totally handle all of the basic needs you stated, and more.  B_U_T  all 3 choices also take a good bit of effort to learn how to run well.  Besides price, this ease of use and learning curve element is also a factor you may want to consider as you invest in picture editing software. 

There are certainly other more basic, more amateur type of programs out there, other than these.  Im sure someone else will be able to highlight some of the less feature rich, easier to learn programs to get you started. 

Very nice emerging portfolio!

Best of Luck.

Based on what you are doing I suggest Portrait Pro:   https://www.portraitprofessional.com/buy/#     Its inexpensive and good.   GIMP is great and so is Paint.  http://download.cnet.com/Paint-NET/3000 … 38146.html   Both are free and have Youtube tutorials.   I use PicMonkey and Befunky but I do VERY basic retouching.   They are also free.

Much of the "heavy lifting" in Photoshop is done by the plugin filters. There is full or partial compatibility with many of them with other competing programs.



A couple of plugin compatibility matrices
http://akvis.com/en/compatibility-software.php    ( All AKVIS Plugins with a few exceptions work with GIMP for example)
http://fritzimages.com/blog/2015/photos … rix/26666/
http://www.thepluginsite.com/knowhow/tu … uction.htm     
http://www.thepluginsite.com/resources/ … ntools.htm   

http://www.irfanview.com/plugins.htm

I've used free GIMP, and it will do what you want.  But I find it difficult to learn and remember how to do things in different kinds of software, so I went back to Photoshop Elements.  If you're a Costco member, keep an eye on their price - a year or two ago Elements 14 was on sale for around 40 bucks.  And if you're looking for a class, message me and I'll point you toward an affordable one.