HP has a wide variety of Photosmart printers, from travel-sized printers that can print snapshots up to 5" x 7" to professional quality printers that can produce stunning photos and scrapbook pages as large as 13" x 19". Some of these printers simply print photos, while others are capable of copying, scanning and even faxing. Prices range from under a hundred dollars to four hundred plus, making this printer suitable for everyone from the penny-pinching amateur to the professional photographer. No matter which HP Photosmart printer you choose, however, you will need HP Photosmart Cartridges. These cartridges are different from regular ink cartridges because they're specifically designed for printing on glossy paper. This makes them perfect for photographs. There are many different types of Photosmart ink. These include black, tricolor, photo, gray photo, cyan, magenta and yellow. Which of these inks you choose will depend on which Photosmart printer you have. Some printers need only two of these ink cartridges while others take as many as five. A printer with two ink cartridges generally doesn't do as professional of a job as one with five, but the prints are still high-quality and should work well for almost any home use. On the other hand, having more inks can sometimes not only give you a better photo, but actually save you money. Cartridges with only one ink color cost much less than those with multiple colors, and you only have to pay for the colors that run out instead of buying a whole tri-color cartridge for just one color. In addition, if you plan to make black-and-white prints, you will want a printer that can take gray photo ink for the most realistic results. With so many different kinds of ink, you may be confused about which cartridges you need. However, this is not as difficult to figure out as it may seem. Simply look on the front of your printer and find the model number. The HP website has a tool where you can type in this number and find out which type of ink you need, and many other websites that sell ink have similar tools. If you are in a store, look for your model number on the side of the ink box. Once you find the right ink, you can save money by buying extra large cartridges, bundled ink packages, or compatible and re-manufactured ink cartridges. You can save even more money by combining two or more of these methods.