Adobe (http://www.adobe.com) has announced Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 software for Mac OS X and Windows systems. It's the latest version of the consumer photo-editing software to organize, edit, create and share photos.

"The Content Aware Fill technology introduced with Photoshop CS5 is one of our most exciting innovations ever, so we're thrilled to be able to make it accessible to photo and video enthusiasts in this latest Elements release," says Kevin Connor, vice president of product management for Digital Imaging at Adobe.

The content intelligence in the Spot Healing Brush analyzes what's in the image and de-clutters or repairs photos (like removing tourists from a crowded scene or an obstruction, such as a telephone pole) with a swipe of a brush, filling in the background. The same content intelligence synthesizes missing pixel information to create a panorama from multiple photos, without leaving any gaps or blank spaces.

In addition, the new Photomerge Style Match turns drab photos dramatic by analyzing characteristics of any photo, such as contrast or color tone, and automatically applies those qualities to another photo, allowing users to easily replicate any photo style, according to Connor. Several new Guided Edit options walk users step-by-step through the process of achieving cool editing effects such as Out of Bounds, making an element of a photo appear to leap off the page in 3D, or retouching via the perfect portraits feature. In addition, users now have access to Layer Masks for compositing richly layered photos.

For the first time, the Photoshop Elements Organizer is available on both the Mac and Windows platforms to help users organize, find and display photo and video clips from one location. The Auto-Analyzer automatically searches a user's collection of photos and assigns a tag based on quality, such as lighting, focus or contrast. People Recognition also automatically creates People tags, so you can find your favorite people fast and it becomes more intelligent over time as it learns to associate specific faces with names.

Photoshop Elements 9 offers various sharing options, including posting photos directly to Facebook or creating interactive online albums with animated templates. In addition, users can share their memories with personalized photo creations like scrapbook pages, photo books, calendars and cards that can be printed from home or via online print service providers. The photo creation workspace allows users control over how they design their photo books, by automatically placing photos within a template or providing access to any Photoshop Elements editing feature from directly within the layout mode.

Photoshop Elements 9 users have the option to purchase Plus, which offers 20GB of storage for automatic online backup and sharing (up to 15,000 photos or four hours of DVD-quality video), as well as ongoing deliveries of new tutorials, artwork and interactive online templates sent directly to the desktop software. A

Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 is available now at the Adobe web site, and also will be available soon at retail outlets such as Amazon.com, Apple (Mac only), Best Buy, Costco, Fry's, New Egg, Office Depot, Office Max and Walmart. It has a suggested retail price of US$99.99, and users can purchase Plus from within the product for US$49.99 per year. (Plus is available in the U.S. only.)