10th Grade — Photo Manipulation Challenge: Surreal Composite

⏰ Do Now — Start Here

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

🎯 Today's Big Question

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

📈 By the End of Today, You 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.

🧰 What You'll Need

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

📋 Your Plan for Today

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).

🖥️ Today's Slide Deck

Short, on-the-board pacing slides — project these to follow along. (The full details are in the handout above, not here.)

Day 1

⬇️ Open / download this slide PDF

Day 2

⬇️ Open / download this slide PDF

📚 Key Words

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.

✅ What Your Finished Work Should Include

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?

📊 Before You Leave

Quick, anonymous class check-in -- takes less than a minute.

Class Check-In

📤 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 ______________.

🎓 ACP Exam Prep

This lesson connects to the Photoshop Adobe Certified Professional exam: Domain 4: Creating and Modifying Visual Elements

🔗 Want to Learn More?

🚀 The Extra Mile

Cross-Class Connection: The same "what if" imaginative-scenario thinking an English creative-writing unit uses.

Career Connection: Believable compositing is a core, testable Photography and Digital Designer skill.

Go further -- turn this into a portfolio piece:

Illustrate a scene from a book you're reading in English class as a surreal photo composite, grounded in the text. Start here: pick one specific paragraph or line, not the whole chapter, and write down the two or three concrete images it contains before you start hunting for source photos.
Build a "what if" composite imagining a real place in school transformed — a fun, shareable piece for a club or yearbook pitch. Start here: take your own base photo of the real school location instead of using a stock photo — the composite only feels grounded if the starting point is a place people recognize.