When time is short or the location is a disaster, every photographer needs some tried and tested ideas to fall back on. Here are a few tricks of the trade

David Bailey once said, "I'm very quick. Ten minutes, that's about enough time for a portrait."

How long should it take to shoot a portrait for the Guardian? Probably longer than the time our photographers are often given: interviews run over; subjects are busy people; it's a daily newspaper, and arrangements are often made at the last minute; the pictures are wanted for a pressing deadline.

So you're the photographer who has been assigned the job, you've rushed at the last minute to arrive at an unprepossessing building where the subject is finishing an interview in a dull room. It could be in a bland hotel or an office decorated in an even blander shade of beige. What do you do next?

What you need is some ideas to fall back on that will allow you to create a great portrait against all odds. Let's have a look at some of the tricks Guardian photographers have up their sleeves.

Blinded by the light … the then borough commander, Brian Paddick, at Brixton police station. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

Sarah Lee says she often resorted to using the light coming through venetian blinds, until I took her to one side and suggested she "lay off Venetian blinds for a while" after she had submitted, as she says, "yet another portrait in an office-bound approximation of noir styling". To be fair to Sarah, that picture has been used plenty of times.

Another of her get-out-of-jail-free cards, which is also used frequently by many other photographers, is the portrait taken on a fire escape or flat roof. This has the benefit of getting the subject out of the chintzy hotel room or beige office in the shortest possible time and with the least distance travelled. It's normally quiet up there apart from the din of the traffic – but can have a bad effect on the subject's hair on a windy day. Fill-in flash should look after any bad lighting conditions, and might even inject a note of intrigue or fashionable decay.

The fire-escape shot … Mercury Rev in Shepherd's Bush, London. Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian

Fire escapes have the added attraction of introducing some strong, graphic lines. Good for portraits of men like the band in Graeme Robertson's picture of Mercury Rev.

Blue-sky thinking … then UN secretary general Kofi Annan in London. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian

David Levene remembers with a shudder the day he took the then UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, up to a flat roof. David had to make sure he photographed him above the clutter and the rooftops, against a pure blue sky – so he made him stand on a library step. And of course he couldn't resist a snap of the great man teetering.

Kofi's feet. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian

A variant of the flat roof or fire escape picture is the "band in the mews" shot. This is a good one if you're confronted by several people, often a group of slightly difficult youths who've been persuaded to go out into the drizzle in the street outside their record company's offices. Normally the photographer selects a suitably interesting section of brick wall (graffitied is good – it goes with the youth vibe). You slam the subjects up against the wall and wait for them to do something risque – otherwise the wall has to work extra hard and you might need a Banksy or at least some ivy on it. Has Graeme Robertson struck lucky and found an ROA on the wall in this alleyway?

Wall of sound … Wild Beasts. Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian

Sarah says that her favourite fallback is the use of reflection: "It works with any reflective surface [not just mirrors] and, if done sensitively, can produce interesting counter-images, obliquely, directly or partially." Actually this can often be a delightful way to shoot a portrait from the outset – as Sarah's picture of Tamara Rojo demonstrates.

Mirror image … ballerina Tamara Rojo at the Royal Opera House, London. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

And if all else fails, often the cleanest background is the floor: Scotland's finest, Murdo MacLeod, shot Maggie O'Farrell and her cat on the Axminster recently. A strong and ever so slightly disturbing portrait.

Lying down on the job … Maggie O'Farrell at home in Edinburgh. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod for the Guardian

Over to you: what tricks do you use to nail that cracking 10-minute portrait?