Before you send someone a photo you took with your phone, you can easily make it more useful to your recipient.

Get rid of distracting things

Didn’t realize you captured an unwanted item at the side, top, or bottom of a photo? Crop it out. You also can zoom in on an image to make the subject larger in the frame.

Add a note or sketch

Call attention to elements in your photo by using your camera app’s markup tools. You can highlight, circle, draw, include text, and add arrows, shapes, and signatures. Some phones also have a tool to magnify part of the photo.

Make it sharper/brighter/more colorful

Most phone cameras have a single-touch feature to improve the overall quality of a photo. If you prefer, you can adjust individual characteristics, such as contrast, color, saturation, sharpness, and others.

Of course, if you make a change to a photo that doesn’t accomplish what you intended, you can always go back to the original picture and start again.