Readers’Letters

Have a burning question about the future of photography? Want to discuss a feature or a tutorial in the magazine? Send us your letters...

Larry Plasek

Star letter: Down in the woods

After reading the ‘A walk in the woods’ project in issue 300 (November 2025), I embarked on a mission with a new 56mm f/1.2 portrait lens. The challenge was to find out whether a portrait lens could be effective for landscape and nature photography. With a restricted minimum focusing distance, would the image be sharp for subjects such as blossoms and plants? How about the bokeh? Is extra post-processing necessary and is metering a problem? All relevant questions, but the overriding answer seems to be, ‘Sure’!

These images (above) indicate that a 56mm lens can consistently answer many of these questions and produce a desirable image. The conclusion of this mission seems to be that a more skilled photographer than I can take these factors into consideration and use virtually any prime or zoom lens to capture the image in their mind’s eye! I have much to learn. Larry Plasek, by email Digital Camera says: Of course, your portrait lens could do a job here, as we can see from these two great images. They aren’t that limited on close-ups either, as a 56mm lens will typically allow focusing at around 50cm for newer lenses, or a bit further for older lenses. With a wide aperture, you will be able to get some great bokeh, but the challenge then becomes one of assessing how much depth of field you need for each shot.