I like to use the image that clearly shows the most identifiable features, for the following reasons. When I am selecting a few observations for identification from the mass of thumbnails in my feed, I want to know that the observation photos likely include the features required for accurate identification. If the first photo includes a flower and a leaf that fill the whole frame, I’m interested. If the first photo is a wide landscape shot or a drive-by car window shot, I’ll pass. I try to keep this in mind when taking my own observation photos too. The best photo to put first will vary by subject.
Also, since this feature request - https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/use-computer-vision-on-each-photo-in-an-observation/4210 has not been implemented, it is a lot of effort for an identifier to get CV suggestions for any images other than the first observation photo. I often use the Windows Snip & Sketch tool to clip out useful parts of observation photos to run through the CV demo at https://www.inaturalist.org/computer_vision_demo.
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