10th Grade — Unit 9.5: Extension & Enrichment (Optional): Photo Manipulation Challenge: Surreal Composite

🗓️ Before Class: Teacher Prep

Gather/set out: Computer with Photoshop, Several provided image sources (sky, object, person, texture).
If today includes physical/hands-on work: make sure the classroom cameras are charged, working, and have a cleared SD card ready for photo uploads.
Pull up today's slide deck (see 🖥️ Slide Deck below) so it's ready to project.

🖥️ Slide Deck (project or share with students)

Short, on-the-board pacing slides for today's Do Now, agenda, vocabulary, and exit ticket -- the full detail lives in the handout above, not here.

Day 1

Open / download this slide PDF

Day 2

Open / download this slide PDF

🧑‍🏫 Substitute Teacher Guide

A scripted, step-by-step runsheet for today's class -- hand this to anyone covering the room who doesn't know the daily routine.

Day 1: 📋 Open Substitute Guide
Day 2: 📋 Open Substitute Guide

🎯 Essential Question

How do we combine multiple images into one surreal, believable scene using everything we've learned this semester?

📈 Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson (2 Days), students will be able to:

Combine at least 3 separate images into one composite scene using selection and layer masking.
Apply consistent lighting, scale, and color to make the composite believable.
Explain the creative concept behind their surreal composite.

📐 Standards Alignment

CDOS (Career Development & Occupational Studies)

CDOS 2 — Integrated Learning -- students will demonstrate how academic knowledge and skills are applied in the workplace and other settings.
CDOS 3a — Universal Foundation Skills -- basic literacy, communication, and problem-solving skills required for a career.

ACP (Adobe Certified Professional) Photoshop Exam Objectives

ACP 4.3 — Make, manage, and manipulate selections.
ACP 4.4 — Transform digital graphics and media.

🎓 Study this for the ACP exam: Domain 4: Creating and Modifying Visual Elements

📚 Key Vocabulary

Composite: A single image made by combining multiple separate images together.
Believability (in compositing): How convincingly a composite's lighting, scale, and color make separate images look like one real photo.

🧰 Materials & Tools

Computer with Photoshop
Several provided image sources (sky, object, person, texture)

🧠 Do Now (Warm-Up)

Have you ever seen a movie poster or ad that combines images in an impossible way? Describe one.

📤 How You Submit This — For Credit

How you submit today's work depends on what kind of work it was. Physical/paper work (most of this semester so far): photograph it with a classroom camera, upload the photo from its SD card onto a computer, and save it into your portfolio -- that upload is your submission, and the physical piece itself is yours to keep, the same as in Grade 9 (your notebook is the one thing with a home base in the room, and even that's your call to bring home when you want it). Digital work (once you're producing files in Photoshop, second semester on): no camera needed -- instead, EXPORT the file. Export your finished project as a JPG, as a PNG, AND save a copy as a PSD (all three), then upload all three into your portfolio. Either way: the portfolio upload, with a description, is what actually counts as turning the assignment in for credit.

📁 Portfolio Update — Once a Week

Once a week, add your best finished or in-progress piece to your portfolio (the Google Drive folder you started in Grade 9, becoming your Google Sites portfolio in Lesson 10) with a 1-2 sentence caption: what it is, what tool/skill it used, and one thing you learned. Keep it current -- don't save it all for the portfolio-website lesson.

✍️ Example description for your Google Sites portfolio (fill in YOUR blanks -- don't just copy this):

For this piece, I made ______________ (name what you made) for “Photo Manipulation Challenge: Surreal Composite.” This project asked: “How do we combine multiple images into one surreal, believable scene using everything we've learned this semester?” I used Composite by ______________ (explain how you used it in THIS piece). The hardest part was ______________, and I solved it by ______________. I'm proud of ______________ because ______________.

📋 Main Workshop / Lesson Sequence

This lesson spans 2 Days. Suggested pacing:

Day	Focus	Plan
Day 1	Building the Composite	Do Now (5 min, above). Mini-lesson (10 min): review compositing techniques (selection, masking, lighting/scale) from the Ink Portrait project. Independent build, part 1 (25 min): begin combining at least 3 images into a surreal scene. Save progress (5 min).
Day 2	Refining & Sharing	Do Now (5 min). Independent build, part 2 (30 min): finish the composite, refining lighting, color, and scale for believability. Share & critique (10 min).

✅ Assessment & Exit Ticket

Composite scored with a rubric: at least 3 images combined, believable lighting/scale/color, and a clear creative concept.

Exit Ticket: What was the hardest part of making your composite look believable, and how did you solve it?

📊 Pull up the anonymous Class Check-In for students to fill out before they go.

🧩 Differentiation & Accommodations

English Language Learners: provide translated or bilingual glossaries, visuals, and sentence frames; pair with a peer for meaningful participation. Students with IEPs: provide extended time, step-by-step checklists, and one-on-one or small-group support as specified in each student's plan. Attention-related needs: break the task into smaller steps, use visual timers, and minimize distractions. Students who finish early: extend the task by adding a second design variation, mentoring a classmate, or writing a short reflection connecting today's skill to a career pathway.