Students offered chance to 'digitally slim' their graduation photos

Worried you look too bulky in your graduation gown? Or want a better smile? A photography company has been criticised by students after offering the chance to look slimmer and more attractive in graduation photos.

Success Photography, which is used by several top universities, offers "digital slimming" to "make the gown more fitting to your shape".

They say: "The traditional graduation gown is a mark of respect and achievement. However it can be bulky and unflattering."

The company also offers "digital complexion and smile enhancement" to "enhance the whiteness of your smile" and "remove all imperfections such as blemishes, redness and shine".

The company, which describes itself as the "leading graduation photography specialist", is employed by universities across the country, including in York, St Andrews, Nottingham, Newcastle, Oxford Brookes, Imperial College London, Exeter, Royal Holloway, Birmingham and Loughborough. They also take school photographs.

Students have criticised the photography company for its offers.

University student Sophie Gadd tweeted, "I can pay £9.95 to have my graduation photos photoshopped to make me look thinner :(".

Gadd said in York Vision student paper that the service, "played on people's insecurities".

Another student said: "They're proud to photograph their graduates but give them a complex at the same time."

A spokesperson for Success Photography says: "With advanced digital technology we can reduce the gowns appearance making it more fitting to your shape. We are talking about the gown, not the person."

(Source: TheGuardian)