Portraiture with the California Sunbounce Sunmover in overcast conditions.

Based in Belgium as a photographer means that I’m shooting a lot of sessions in bad – overcast – weather situations. Overcast weather isn’t always providing me enough soft diffused light to shoot portraits “that pop” in natural light. I’m used to grab some speedlights to lit these kind of portraits but because we were shooting in the pouring rain I’ve decided to work with a non-electronic light modifier, the California Sunbounce Sunmover. I always carry a Sunmover in my camera bag, in it’s folded size it fits perfectly in my laptop compartment and it’s perfect for portraiture and half-body shots.

Photographers often mail me asking about this Sunmover if it would gain their photography in our typical overcast weather conditions, my answer is a big YES! I’ve tried the silver and zebra reflectors and they both passed the “overcast”-test with great success, here is a little hands-on demonstration:

Belgian “off season” weather conditions:
As you can see in the images below we where shooting a portfolio session in dull, rainy weather. A good thing about shooting with these reflectors is that I can work fast so the teen model doesn’t have to wait while I’m setting the scene.

↑ The weather conditions - a typical Belgian rainy overcast day ↑

Test shot without the Sunmover:
Shooting natural light portraits without a reflector in these weather conditions isn’t giving me a satisfying “look”, an image with contrasting shadows underneath the models eyes & nose won’t be an update for her portfolio book. This image was shot at ISO800 on a full-frame Nikon D700 – spot metering. I could have dialed in a lower shutter speed (e.g. 1/250) to brighten up the whole scene but at 1/320 some of the white was already clipping in the histogram. I also miss a sparkle of light in her eyes, a little fill-in would really make this dull image a lot more attractive … this is where the Sunmover comes in as my portrait savior.

↑ Portrait shot without the Sunmover - ISO800 , 85mm , f2.8 , 1/320sec ↑

Test shot with the Sunmover:
I did not adjust camera settings, these remained the same as the image above, shot at ISO800 on a full-frame Nikon D700 – spot metering. The only thing we’ve brought into the scene was a zebra Sunmover, camera left – reflecting the natural light onto the model. As you can see immediately … this saved my portrait and brightens up the most important zones of my models face.

↑ Portrait shot with the Sunmover - ISO800 , 85mm , f2.8 , 1/320sec ↑

100% crop comparison:

↑ 100% crop comparison in Lightroom ↑

It’s waterproof, use it as a toy:
The Sunmover is a high quality product, made in Germany, and is water proof! This may sound a bit weird but after testing a lot of 5in1 reflectors I can say that the Sunmover is the only reflector I know that doesn’t loose it’s tension after using it in rain / water. I’ve made a little (fun) movie to show how you can even use the Sunmover as a toy for your kids

Pricing:
The Sunmover sells at €79,00 (silver) and €89,00 (zebra) at Calumet Photographic which is a bargain for this great product, most 5in1 sollutions sell at €50 – €70 …
Best off all, its FOCUSABLE! The Sunmover is a single folding reflector can be used for SPOT, NEUTRAL and WIDE ANGLE LIGHT. (More info).

Model information:
Amélie @ Network Models / Borderfield