How do you remove the word "Figure" when referencing a figure?

Question

So I have my figures labeled as "Figure section.figurenumber", meaning each caption starts with, say, "Figure 1.1", "Figure 1.2", and "Figure 2.1" if in sections 1 and 2, respectively. I've accomplished this by putting the following in my preamble:

\renewcommand{\thesubfigure}{Figure \arabic{section}.\arabic{subfigure}}

The reason I'm using subfigures is to be able to have figures side-by-side on a page. Anyway, when I reference these figures in the actual text, like, "please see figures \ref{label1} and \ref{label2}," the actual output is "please see figures Figure 1.1 and Figure 1.2".

How can I maintain the word "Figure" in my caption but suppress it when referencing the figure in the text?

Here is a minimal working example:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{graphicx, caption}
\usepackage{float} %Needed for the [H] after \begin{figure}.  [H] stands for "Here", 
i.e., the figures appear in the PDF in the same location as in the TeX code.

\usepackage[labelformat=simple]{subcaption}

\renewcommand{\thesubfigure}{Figure \arabic{section}.\arabic{subfigure}}

\begin{document}
\section{First section}
\section{Second section}
    \begin{figure}[H]
    \centering
    \begin{subfigure}[t]{.45\textwidth}
    \begin{center} \includegraphics[scale=0.2]{stars.jpeg} \end{center}
    \caption{A picture of the past.}
    \label{fig:stars}
    \end{subfigure}
    ~~~
    \begin{subfigure}[t]{.45\textwidth}
    \begin{center} \includegraphics[scale=0.2]{monkeys.jpeg} \end{center}
    \caption{Humans not too long ago.}
    \label{fig:primates}
    \end{subfigure}
    ~~~
    \begin{subfigure}[t]{.42\textwidth}
    \begin{center} \includegraphics[scale=0.16]{lion.jpeg} \end{center}
    \caption{Not today Satan.}
    \label{fig:predator}
    \end{subfigure}
    ~~~
    \begin{subfigure}[t]{.42\textwidth}
    \begin{center} \includegraphics[scale=0.16]{blueberry.jpeg} \end{center}
    \caption{Is this a blueberry-topped cupcake, or just a cup of blueberries?.}
    \label{fig:enigma}
    \end{subfigure}
    ~~~
\end{figure}
As we can see in figures \subref{fig:stars} and \subref{fig:enigma}, I'm not very good at making a minimal working example.
\end{document}

And this gives the output:

Answer 1

From the comments it seems that you do not what subfigures at all but something like

\documentclass{article}

\renewcommand\thefigure{\thesection.\arabic{figure}}

\usepackage{graphicx}
\begin{document}

\section{Zzzzzz}

\begin{figure}[htp]
  \begin{minipage}[t]{.33\linewidth}
    \centering
     \includegraphics[width=.7\linewidth]{example-image-a}
     \caption{Zzzzz\label{zza}}
  \end{minipage}\hfill
  \begin{minipage}[t]{.33\linewidth}
    \centering
     \includegraphics[width=.7\linewidth]{example-image}
     \caption{Zzzzz zzz\label{zzb}}  
  \end{minipage}\hfill
  \begin{minipage}[t]{.33\linewidth}
        \centering
     \includegraphics[width=.7\linewidth]{example-image-b}
     \caption{Zzzzz zzzzzz\label{zzc}}
  \end{minipage}
\end{figure}

See figures \ref{zza} to \ref{zzc}
\end{document}