What makes me doubt the low RRPM is that the blades in the picture appear absolutely straight, i.e. no tulip shape.
Normally the blades on the AS350 are not extremely rigid.
So I would expect a more curved shape of the blades if the RRPM was really very low. And to explain the attitude in the picture by LoC due to low RRPM would require VERY low RPM.
There might be some merit to the Hydraulics problem theory. Just speculating though, which I know I shouldn´t....