What can i do?

[Photo_Mama2]

I want to "smooth out the background" the editing soft wear I have is PSE 11

 

[Granddad]

I use PSE 8 but there's probably not much difference.

In this one I used the burn tool to turn the background black - you can lose a bit of detail on the edges of the hair when it's darkish like hers if you are not careful but a touch on the edges of the hair with a light dodge tool can help bring the hair back and enhance separation.

In this version I used the lasso tool (set to 25 pixels of feather) to separate the background from the young lady, giving a little space between her hair and the background and then used filters/blur/gaussian blur (maybe try motion blur instead - or a bit of both) and set blur to about 40.

That's what I do when I have a wrinkly background and neither method is too time consuming. Of course, it's better to start with a smooth background and save the hassle but I know from experience that that isn't always possible. Photo paper background is better (I still haven't bought one) or 15 minutes with a steamer.

Others may have other suggestions.

As for the photo, I like it! It's not Ansel Adams but you've caught a nice look on her face with decent lighting.

 

[gw2424]

With Lightroom what I would do is take the brush tool, set it to underexpose and then brush out the background. Grandad, I really like the second edit. It makes the background less distracting but rather than getting rid of it, you just make it more subtle.

 

[Photo_Mama2]

OH WOW!!! I love the second photo!!! Looks A LOT better!!! And thank you for the complement... My living room is very dim and my house hold lights just don't cut it... I used my Yn-565ex, Still waiting on my strobes and soft boxes... Thank you for taking the time to edit the photos

 

[The_Traveler]

In PS I would start with the color version and make a mask that will separate hair from background.
How this applies to PSE, I don't know.