By Shutterbug Staff

December 22, 2005 — HP is offering two digital photography software products that enable consumers to print high-quality photos at home in two simple steps. Available as a free download, HP Photosmart Essential 1.9 offers a variety of photo organizing, editing and sharing tools and can be expanded with free new features or upgrades as they are released. Among the offerings are Holiday Card Packs that enable users to create personalized holiday greeting cards by dragging and dropping photos into professionally designed templates.

For more advanced editing and creative photo projects, advanced search and backup and restore capabilities, HP Image Zone 5.0 is available for the first time as a standalone product for $49. The software provides all the features of HP Photosmart Essential as well as sophisticated photo editing tools such as the ability to restore vibrant colors to faded photos and crop video so individual frames can be printed.

Both products are available in 21 languages and are included with select HP consumer photography products worldwide. Photosmart Essential 1.9 and free plug-ins are available online at www.hp.com/go/pse. HP Image Zone 5.0 is available with select HP consumer digital photography products or can be purchased separately for $49 at www.hp.com/go/iz.