According to Apple, over three TRILLION photos are taken on iPhones each year. Here's how to make them look great.

Taking great photos requires two separate motions: taking the photo, and editing the photo.

How to Take a Great Photo:

Here's some great advice from renowned photographer and reviewer, Ken Rockwell: FART. By this he means, feel, ask, refine, take.

Feel: when you have the urge to take a photo, first ask yourself why you want to take this photo? Most people see something and just take a picture, but they don't ask what about this particular scene they really want to capture. According to Rockwell, "It's never a subject, like 'a Ferrari.' What catches our mind's eye and leads to a great photo is always something more abstract. What attracts us to Ferraris as photo subjects is their bold, solid, primary colors and their brilliantly pure styling."

Ask: what made you stop and want to take a photo? Is it the whole scene? A beautiful sky against a field of colorful flowers? Rockwell asks the photographer, "What is it, exactly, that made you want to take a picture?" The more clearly you can define this, the better your picture will be.

Refine: this stage is all about capturing the essence of what you feel, and remove everything else.

When capturing a photograph, the initial spark of interest is crucial. However, the true art lies in refining your image to emphasize what caught your eye. Here are some key steps:

1. Emphasize What Stopped You: If something intrigued you, consider why. Was it texture, color, or an interesting relationship between elements? Highlight that aspect boldly.

2. Eliminate Distractions: Remove anything unrelated to your focal point. Compose your shot to convey the essence of your subject.

3. Ask Yourself Questions: Before clicking, FART (Feel, Anticipate, Reflect, Take). Understand what truly captivated you. Was it the redhead’s hair, green eyes, or something more subtle?

4. Sculpt Your Image: Like a sculptor chisels away excess stone, meticulously remove distractions from your photo. Every element should contribute to your story.

Take: click and shoot. Take a look at the picture and see if it's exactly what you hoped to capture. If not, try again.

One more great suggestion for better photos: move. If you want to take a shot of the kids playing, try crouching down and taking it from their level. Try taking pictures from different angles, not just standing over a subject and taking the picture from your vantage point. Get up close to subjects and try to fill the frame. Your feet and body movement while taking a photo are just as important as the camera itself.

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Next, once you have a great shot it's time to edit the photo. Years ago, most major editing required Adobe Lightroom or a similar advanced photo editing software. For professional shots these are still necessary, but you can still achieve great looking shots just by using the editing features right on your cell phone. Let's take a look.

Crop: The crop feature on a phone allows you to trim or adjust the size of a photo, focusing on specific parts and removing unwanted areas.

Auto: automatically enhances the image by adjusting brightness, contrast, and other settings to improve its overall quality.

If you have a photo worth saving and sharing, it's worth a few minutes to edit the settings right on your phone's photo app. A few adjustments can turn a good photo into an amazing photo. However, some of these features are not intuitive and it can take a bit of practice. Here is an overview of all of your phone's editing features and how to use them.