Samsung uses dslr photo to show smartphone portrait mode

Samsung has used a photo of a dslr to promote the portrait mode of a smartphone and to show how it works. It concerns the Galaxy A8 Star, which was recently released in Asia.

The photo can be seen on the product page of the Galaxy A8 Star, the photographer writes in a post on DIYPhotography. Samsung has, however, changed the background of the photo, changed the hair color to a red shade to match the background, and all visible veins have been removed from the eyes. The photographer assumes that Samsung has paid for the use of a photo; someone bought the photo through a site, but it’s unclear who that was.

Samsung does not explicitly claim that the photo was taken with the phone, but it does implicitly with the placement and context of the image. It is not the first time that it has been shown that Samsung is pretending that dslr photos were taken by a mid-range phone. The same thing happened a few months ago with the Galaxy A8 in Brazil.

It happens more often that smartphone makers promote the camera with footage made on a dslr. With Huawei phones, this has come to light several times in recent years, but the practice has been around for longer. Nokia tried to show the quality of the camera in a video shot with a DSLR, something that was visible through the reflection of the camera in a van.

The original photo (left) and the version Samsung posted on its site (right)