I love busting Dan Henry’s balls for a variety of reasons… I’ll discuss all of those in another post at some point – but this post is about the shit Photoshop job Dan’s team did on this photo.
Just look at it. Artifacts, crap, jagged edges – weird blurs. It’s a travesty. The whole idea with Photoshop is to fool the eye – and any time (especially with a “nature photo” such as this) you have an edge that doesn’t look quite right – it makes your eye bump, and it’s not a good feeling.
Best case scenario, the viewer sees it, it’s not comfortable – they may not even notice what it is – but their subconscious tells them they don’t like it. Aaaaaaaaand – contrary to what anyone would have you believe – this tanks conversion.
If you’re going to Photoshop something – do it RIGHT or don’t do it at all.
Dan is a fit guy. His gal is cute (not a plastic titty guy – but that’s just me.) Do they REALLY need to trim off that extra flab just to produce a photo that kills conversion? Is vanity worth that? How perfect do you need to look?
In all instances – real and natural and imperfect is going to be better than fucked up or Uncanny Valley.
Get real. Hire a professional – or just use your real photos.
