Learning Photoshop can be a lot of fun, if you enjoy working with graphics and are somewhat artistic. Personally, I am what I would call “graphics challenged”, in the sense that I just don’t feel confident picking colors and putting together designs that include photos and such.
Nonetheless, I use Photoshop pretty often to do projects such as website headers and small graphics for sales pages. Usually, I take a stock image or header that has already been designed, and change the colors and the photos if there are any. The result is usually a pretty decent header design, without the pain of having to start entirely from scratch.
For most people, learning Photoshop is not that big a deal. If you just do a little photo touchup from time to time, you can get by with programs like Paint Shop Pro or even the Windows Paint program. Photoshop comes in handy (and really, is indispensable) when you are doing serious editing that requires multiple layers and lots of effects.
If you’re interested in a career doing graphic design or any type of artistic endeavor that requires creating images and design elements, you need Photoshop. The reason for this is because it is the “industry standard” when it comes to graphic editing and design, and offers the most versatility and power in one cool package. There are a lot of Photoshop tutorials and entire courses for learning Photoshop from the ground up. If you are really serious about getting into graphics editing, grab this program and learn how to use it.
I have CS2 myself. You can sometime find older versions like this for sale cheap on Ebay and places. The older versions are great for learning and making a few bucks while you save up for an upgrade.