When faced with a scene in real life, it seems obvious that this is a massive landscape, or a microscopic view under extreme magnification. But when you capture that view and place it out of context, the difference between a pebble and a boulder is quickly lost.
Epidote thin section under cross-polarized light. Image credit: Gunnar Ries (Amphibol)
Each time I get a fresh batch of geoscience students, I run a test that has them destined to fail by flashing photographs and asking them a simple question: is this microscopic (micro), or macroscopic (macro)? If I’m feeling particularly evil, I’ll also ask them to identify the subject matter as being either geoscience or biology. Don’t laugh too hard until you play for yourself…
https://gizmodo.com/microscope-image-or-alien-planet-can-you-tell-the-diff-1577330919
