1. A computer-implemented method for displaying a portion of a higher-resolution image in the context of a lower-resolution image, wherein one or more processors are programmed to perform the steps comprising: sending a request to a server over a network for an image; receiving a lower-resolution image from the server over the network, wherein the lower-resolution image comprises the image at a first resolution; displaying the lower-resolution image on a display; receiving a user indication of a position that corresponds to a point in the lower-resolution image; sending a request to the server over the network for a composed image; receiving the composed image from the server over the network, wherein the composed image comprises the lower-resolution image and a virtual lens, wherein the virtual lens comprises a higher-resolution image, wherein the higher-resolution image comprises a portion of the image at a second resolution that is higher than the first resolution, and wherein the virtual lens is positioned on the lower-resolution image, such that, at the user-indicated position, a point in the higher-resolution image of the virtual lens matches the point in the underlying lower-resolution image; and replacing the lower-resolution image with the composed image on the display.