Hero Banner Homepages - The end of the slider as we know it

Have you noticed that many of the big sites are moving away from homepage sliders, in favour of single large photos or images?

If you don't know what I'm talking about, just look at the homepages of PayPal or Twitter.
(Just logged into my my PP account and was greeted by an espresso machine!!)

Everybody seems to be doing it, and it's known as the Hero Banner Homepage.

Intention being that you sum up your product/service with a single image that encapsulates the aspirations of your readers, warms them up for a sale and 'makes them feel good'.

The move to Homepage Hero Banners (which is backed up by plenty of research) is that sliders may look good, but they're pretty ineffective when it comes to selling anything.

I've dabbled. In fact I've switched all 4 of my e-commerce sites and already noticed a pick up in sales.

In my case it was pretty easy to choose the picture. 2 of my sites sell hair products and the other 2 a hangover remedy.

But I now want to use this design on my wed-design and service provider sites.

So I'm thinking about the best images to use which encapsulate these businesses and make potential clients stick around.

My question here is what type of Hero Banner Homepage images work best for you? (both as a website owner and an internet surfer...

If anybody's interested I'll be happy to share what may (or indeed may not) be working for me. But I'm very new to this, and really looking to get a conversation started.

For example, photos or graphics, how much text, where to place your call to action the list goes on and on.

You can read what some experts (not me) think of Hero Banner Homepages below;

http://www.dbi.io/uk/blog/5-examples...se-conversion/

http://gotgroove.com/ecommerce-blog/...the-fold-gold/

http://www.amberweinberg.com/15-beau...ebsite-heroes/

Any thoughts or contributions?