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4K photography with the National Trust

At the weekend I visited our local National Trust property, Sizergh Castle, to seek out some 4K photography opportunities with my trusty Panasonic LUMIX GX8 camera. (If you want to win one of these cameras for yourself, incidentally – worth over £1,000 – make sure you head over to this post.) Sizergh Castle lies out the outskirts of Kendal, Cumbria, has been home to the Strickland family for over 700 years and has many intriguing tales to tell. It’s an opportunity to discover the rich and vibrant grounds or explore the wider estate, with its dramatic views out to the Lakeland fells and Morecambe Bay. Sizergh Castle I set out to test my camera’s 4K video mode and was on the look-out for moving objects that would allow me to capture events in 4K and extract photos from the footage. My first obvious port of call was the bird feeding station, where there are a number of feeders and a hide-like set-up from which to observe. I’m not sure if this part of the property is currently being re-vamped but sadly the feeders were empty and there was no sign of any bird life whatsoever. Not to worry, though – I felt sure there would be other opportunities. Knowing there wasn’t going to be much moving action to capture inside the property, we headed for the gardens and, more specifically, the lake at the rear of the castle. We were once again out of luck – the lake had been cordoned off and the few ducks that we could see were too far away to capture with the camera’s default 14-42mm lens. The snowdrops were out in full force but weren’t quite what we were looking for in terms of testing the camera’s 4K capabilities! Snowdrops at Sizergh It was time for desparate measures – our struggle to find moving objects meant that in order to capture something of interest in 4K mode, we were going to have to improvise and make our own entertainment! So, we grabbed a small handful of gravel and threw it into one of the small ponds in the gardens, and from the short video we captured, we were able to select the exact moment the splash first occurred. Sizergh splash Without the ability to choose the frame I wanted from a video, capturing something like this at the exact right moment would no doubt have taken numerous attempts. Instead, it could be achieved with just one take, and here is a close-up of a small portion of the above image. Sizergh splash close-up Last year, Panasonic Lumix UK held a number of events at National Trust properties throughout the country, giving you the oppotunity to take a photo walk and get your hands on the latest 4K LUMIX models in the range. Watch out for further news coming from their partnership. Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Panasonic Lumix UK.

Paul Johnson

Paul Johnson is Editor of A Luxury Travel Blog and has worked in the travel industry for more than 30 years. He is Winner of the Innovations in Travel ‘Best Travel Influencer’ Award from WIRED magazine. In addition to other awards, the blog has also been voted “one of the world’s best travel blogs” and “best for luxury” by The Daily Telegraph.

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