Great tips, @MortenCopenhagen . I honestly had never thought of the cropping that occurs by Maps when generating the photo feed. Thanks for pointing that out!
I would add that cropping photos beyond a minimal amount can require a decent camera. If a lower-resolution image is cropped too far, the resulting photo can appear pixelated or “noisy.” When focusing on a place more than 100 feet away, I will typically try to get closer. Some new phones with digital zoom also fare better when the image is shot from the zoomed-in (or pre-cropped) angle rather than cropping in after the shot.
I’m loving this series!