MACRO - MICRO

MACRO – MICRO

I was reading blogs the other day. I won’t tell you which ones – I don’t want to embarrass anyone. One blogger made a remark that just struck me as WRONG.

I didn’t want to leave a comment on her blog – to correct her - that would have been bitchy.
But I can comment HERE – because this is where I can bitch all I want to.
(Check the title of the blog.)

Anyway – (not anyways) – she said -

But, I'm thinking that this is going to be the kind of quilt that's more fun to examine on a macro level, rather than from afar. And, I suppose, that's how quilts are enjoyed anyways - a piece at a time on your lap.

Silly me – I thought that to examine something at (not on) a macro level WAS from afar.
So since when is looking at something up close considered to be at a macro level?

And then two other people chimed in – in the comment section –

#1 - … you're right--it is best appreciated on a macro level. I think of that when I take full-length photos of my quilts. Unless it's a wall hanging, no one will ever see them all stretched out again!

#2 - … you're right that quilts (especially big ones) are most appreciated at the macro level, scrunched up on our laps.

I should remember that next time and not worry too much about the big picutre!

Now – I will overlook the “picutre” – that’s probably just a typo –

But – according to my dictionary – (Webster’s New World Dictionary)

Macro = large - big
Example – macrocosm – universe – any large, complex entity
Example - macroeconomics - entire economy

Micro = little - small
Example – microscopic – so small as to be invisible or obscure except through a microscope
Example - microeconomics - individual consumers

And I know that - in photography -

If you want to photograph something small - to make it look big - 

you want a "macro" view of the "micro" something.


So - if you want the reverse -

If you want to photograph something big - to make it look small - 

wouldn't you want a "micro" view of the "macro" something?

So I repeat -

since when is looking at something up close considered to be at a macro level?


And if it HAS changed – why don’t they rename that thing a MACROscope?



But then again – it’s probably just me.