Olga Gladkova - The Magic of Portrait, Shooting on Location

Olga Gladkova - The Magic of Portrait, Shooting on Location

“The Magic of Portrait: Shooting on Location” by Olga Gladkova is an immersive masterclass for photographers who want to elevate their outdoor portrait work with artistry, technical confidence, and emotional depth. Olga takes you beyond posing and gear: this course teaches you how to see and capture magic in real locations—parks, city streets, alleys, gardens—using natural light as your palette. The course begins with theory: scouting locations, choosing the best spaces, understanding how golden hour light behaves outdoors, managing tricky ambient lighting, adapting to different color temperatures, and setting white balance correctly—even when greens, foliage, and shadows dominate the scene. You’ll gain the know-how to choose your settings so the camera becomes a partner in capturing luminous, moody portraits.

Then comes the heart of the work: practical shooting. Olga walks you through directing models in real environments—how to pose them naturally, compose frames that balance environment and subject, build depth and volume, and capture emotional authenticity. You’ll observe group and solo portrait setups and learn how to use perspective, background, light-and-shadow play to bring out the person behind the pose.
Post-production is equally detailed. Starting from importing and organizing images in Lightroom, you learn how light and color correction lay the foundation. From there, she moves into Photoshop: cleaning backgrounds, contouring, retouching with respect for texture and realism, enhancing light and shadows, and finally sharpening and preparing files for both print and web. She shares workflows that retain artistry and avoid over-processing.
What makes this course stand out is its completeness: theory + shoot + edit, all in real settings. You finish knowing how to find beauty in outdoor unpredictability, how to use natural light creatively, how to lead your subject with trust, and how to retouch with intention. Whether you’re a beginner trying to step out of studio comfort or an intermediate photographer wanting more expression in your outdoor work, this course gives you both tools and artistic confidence to bring portraits alive.