It looks like I solved #3.
Step 1:
In the css subdirectory, edit codenovo-portfolio-frontend-css.css and comment out line 138 which sets max-width for the dialog.
Step 2:
Edit codenovo/codenovo-portfolio.php, look for the call to the_post_thumbnail( ) and remove the array and just pass ‘full’:
the_post_thumbnail(‘full’);