If snapping photos with your phone and applying an Instagram filter is as deep as you get with mobile photography, it’s time to up your game.

Several apps can dramatically improve the quality of photos and take things further by creatively editing the shots.

Hydra, for example, has a high-rez mode that cranks up the amount of detail.

While an iPhone 6 has an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, Hydra can snap four almost identical photos and then merge them into one image, effectively producing a 32-megapixel picture.

Why in the world would you need an image with enough pixels to spot every wrinkle in your selfie?

Well, it would help when it comes time to print a massive enlargement on photo paper. A 31-megapixel image should turn out with “good” results on a 50x75-inch print.

However, using an app like Hydra can also create unusual yet intriguing images of a living object.

In a blog post by a bird watcher, a white-crowned sparrow captured using the Hydra app appears almost dreamlike.  Portions in focus cleverly clash with blurry extremities, such as the bird’s head.

Straighten up

Another app seeks to solve the distortion that occurs near the edges of the lens.

Ever notice how a picture of an office tower doesn’t seem exactly straight? Or people on the outside of a group selfie have wider faces?

Skrwt 1

While wide-angle lenses let users squeeze in more of what they see, it tends to distort whatever’s at the edges.

Skrwt lets you adjust a photo to eliminate crooked lines,

Using a slider, shooters can easily bring edges back to the proper perspective.

Lightroom for iPhone

Hardcore shooters and passionate mobile users can flex their photography muscle with the Lightroom iPhone app

Adobe has taken the powerful photo-editing features from the desktop version of Lightroom, and simplified it for small mobile screens.

From fine-tuning levels to applying lazy presets, this app can help make your photos pop.

Sure, some if it might be overkill if you’re just going to upload a photo to Instagram. Might as well post the best shot you have.

Lightroom iPhone