As long as you have enough fuel you can hold the down arrow key to keep you in place while you snap pictures without worrying about steering.
This has helped me a lot, if you're not hitting rocks and getting all the fuels you will have enough fuel to "hover" in 1 spot for a little bit, then continue on. From what I've seen it is definitely how fast and well centered the picture is for awesome.
I believe getting keys is random, the only reason to shorten your game would be the more games played would increase the chance of a key.